The Dove Princess
by Vegetasgirl01
Summary: Jakob has an idea to make money to get their first book published. Will reluctantly agrees. The Brothers jump in with both feet, but Jakob is about to find himself in it up to his neck while trying to save Will's! Post movie, WillxOC JakexOC No Grimmcest!
1. Once Upon A Time

Willkommen ein und alle in der wunderbaren Welt der Brother's Grimm! (Welcome one and all to the wonderful world of the Brother's Grimm!) This is my first story set in the Brother's world and I hope I can give it all the respect it is due. I stayed with Terry Gilliam's idea of filling the story with fairytale goodness (and it's not as easy as one would think. Terry, you rock!) and you will also find many nursery rhymes sprinkled throughout as well.

As I said in the description, this takes place post movie and the Brothers are still in Marbaden. Some months have passed and at this point their future and their pocketbook is beginning to look a bit bleak. Jakob, as always, has been doing a bit of research and may have come up with a way to secure their financial future, but can he get Wilhelm to agree? After all the adventure will be fraught with danger at every turn. Will the reward be worth the risk involved? We shall see...

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"Welcome children, welcome! Oh do hurry and come in. It's snowing so dreadfully tonight and it's much warmer in here. Yes come sit by the fire and warm yourselves. I've made some nice warm chocolate for you as well. So I suppose you've come for a story then, eh? Well then alright, what shall it be tonight? Oh you want to hear one of _their _adventures do you? Very well then. What? Oh yes I did know them very well, but that was so many years ago, but I remember them as if it were just yesterday. They were both so handsome. That Wilhelm, he was ever so charming and Jakob, why he was just as sweet as sugar! You know I...What? Oh yes, the story. Forgive an old woman for prattling on so. Well settle down then and I will tell you about one of their greatest adventures and it's called ...

**The Dove Princess**

Once upon a time there lived a brother and sister whose names were Frederick and Katherine. They lived in a rather large and lively village at the foot of a softly flowing hill on which sat a beautiful castle and they were ruled by a kind King who had a very lovely daughter.

Now Frederick had known the Princess from a very young age, they had grown up together and become very good friends. She would sneak off from the castle whenever she could to meet him in the woods outside the village. As they grew older, their fondness for each other also grew and they fell in love. However, their relationship was soon to come to an end. The King had made arrangements for his daughter to marry a fine young Prince from another kingdom whom the Princess had never met. The King knew about her secret friendship with Frederick, but things being what they were in those days he forbade his daughter to see him ever again, for she was promised to another. The Princess was beside herself with grief and Frederick was inconsolable, even by his sister.

"You must stop moping about the house", said Katherine, "it will do no good. You knew all along a common person such as yourself would never be able to marry a Princess."

"I know that", sighed Frederick, "it's just that I don't know what I'm going to do now that I can't see her. I never even got to tell her how I feel and now I won't even get to say good bye."

He sighed again as he looked out the window at the castle above. "Oh, I know if I were a brave hero, the King would have to let me marry her then!" he said as he jumped up and started poking the air with a broomstick that he found leaning on the wall nearby. "Take that, you loathsome dragon! Ha!" He jumped around the room from table to bench slaying invisible dragons and fighting evil giants. That is until he tipped over the milk pitcher on the dining table.

"Fred! Now look what you've done!" fussed Katherine, "Just let it go. I'm sure you'll find someone someday soon who will make you a fitting wife. Someone who can cook and sew," She began mopping up the milk with a towel. "And clean up after you." Kate grumbled under her breath.

Now some months earlier, things in the kingdom had begun to go astray. Slowly at first, but it had been getting worse and worse as time went on. Now at the end of the summer, the stories were coming in from other villages telling of some terrible happenings around the kingdom. Young girls had been going missing when they went into the woods to pick mushrooms or gather firewood. As this was happening, the brave young men in the villages were volunteering to go out and find them, but alas they too went out into the woods never to return. By this time 98 girls in all had gone missing.

Now the worst part was just beginning. For no apparent reason that no one could discern, villagers from all over had begun acting strangely. They would suddenly stop whatever they were doing at the moment and recite a rhyme as if being made to do so by some unknown force. Once it had begun, there was no stopping it. The frightening thing was is the rhyme would then come to life as if it had a will of its own. All over people were dropping their work to go to market, row a boat or jump over a candlestick. It was affecting the livestock and animals as well. Cows tried to jump into the air each night when the moon rose, geese ran up and down the stairs and mice were in every clock and kitchen scurrying about. Very little work was getting done and everything was falling into disarray. The whole kingdom was slowly turning into chaos.

None of this was on Frederick's mind though. He secretly got a letter to the Princess and made arrangements to see her one last time in the woods. She was to be married the next day to her unknown suitor and he couldn't bear to let that happen without seeing her again to say goodbye. The King, however had put extra guards on to make sure she didn't go out and had proclaimed it was forbidden for anyone in the kingdom to go into the woods for fear of more of his subjects disappearing. Somehow though she had managed to elude them and slip out anyway. The fact that no one was allowed to enter the forest made it much easier for her to make her way to Frederick without being seen.

Soon they were together in their usual meeting place. They spent the afternoon talking. She picked flowers and made crowns out of them for both of them to wear in their hair and they played hide and seek. Fred even managed to sneak in a kiss even though she tried to escape it, but not very hard. Soon it was growing dark and the two sat under a large pine tree. The long needles on the ground beneath were soft and smelled wonderful. She was soon going to have to return to the castle never to see him again.

Frederick took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. He was about to say how much he loved her and would miss her, but a sudden overwhelming urge came over him. A rhyme had popped into his head and it was all he could do to keep from repeating it. Fred looked panicked and tried not to let the words come out. "What's wrong my love?" asked the Princess. He couldn't stop it any longer and quickly blurted out:

Little boy blue

Come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow,

The cows in the corn!

Where is the little boy

Who looks after the sheep?

Under the haystack, fast asleep!

Cows and sheep began wandering out of the woods around them and meandering about bleating and lowing as if they were lost.

"Oh no…"said Frederick mournfully.

That was it. They both immediately fell backward and were sound asleep. When they awoke it was morning the livestock was gone. They had apparently slept through the night and they both knew they were in big trouble. Afraid the King would have his head; Frederick had to get the princess back to the castle before anyone woke up. They ran through the woods, but it seemed with every turn they were getting nowhere. It felt like they were in the forest for hours and they apparently seemed to be going in circles as trees and bushes all began to look the same. They were about to give up and admit they were lost, when they came upon a small, tidy cottage nestled in a clearing.

Fred thought he might ask directions to the castle, so they approached the little house. A kindly looking old woman opened to door and stepped out onto the front walk. "My, my, what are you two doing so far out in the forest?" she asked, "You both look so tired and hungry. Why don't you come in, sit down and have something to eat. Then I will help set you off in the right direction"

"Oh, that would be lovely", said the Princess and she went towards the open door. Frederick however found he couldn't move. It was if he was frozen stiff where he stood. He tried to cry out to the Princess to stop her, but couldn't. He could do nothing but watch helplessly as she entered the cottage. The old woman went in behind her and closed the door not being concerned that he wasn't following at all.

Through the window he saw the old woman begin to change as she took on her real shape. She was an ugly old witch with a hunched back and a crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken more than once. Her long white hair hung down past her waist like cobwebs blowing in the breeze. The Princess took no notice of this and stood still as if in a trance. Fred watched as the witch hung a small gold birdcage from the ceiling and opened its tiny door. She then took a small vial of blue liquid from her pocket. Tossing it at the Princess she muttered a few words Fred couldn't hear and it made a cloud of blue and white smoke that puffed up around her. When it cleared, the Princess was gone, but in her place was now a delicate white dove with blue wingtips locked in the golden cage. The witch lifted the cage down, walked out the door and whistled loudly between two fingers calling something from deep in the forest.

To Fred's surprise a large wild boar came snuffling out of the woods and the old witch jumped on its back. The boar squealed loudly and bolted off into the forest carrying the witch and the Princess Bird with it.

When they had gone, Frederick found that he could move once again. Not knowing what to do, he wandered around the woods for a while trying to make sense of it all. He finally came to a small village and decided to try and get help.

"Help! Help!" yelled Frederick running to a group of three men in front of a small inn. "The Princess has been taken!"

He explained the best he could what had happened to three men who were just getting ready to leave on horseback. They looked at each other not knowing what to do at first. They were traders and not really in the business of rescuing Princesses. An old woman who was tending her garden at front of her house overheard what was being said as Frederick was being very loud and animated about his story. She tottered over to them and offered an explanation.

"It's none of my business really, but I don't want to see a handsome young lad such as yourself get himself killed for nothing."

Frederick felt a cold chill run through him and he wanted to run somewhere; anywhere, but he couldn't abandon the Princess so he pulled up what courage he had left and listened to the old woman's story.

"She's been taken by the old witch that lives on the edge of the kingdom. Many girls have disappeared as of late and any man who tried to rescue them has met his maker trying. Long ago when the King's father ruled she was promised a position in the court, but when it was found out that she dabbled in the evil arts she was turned out. As a result she nearly starved and froze to death that winter. She grew bitter and ugly with age and she wanted to keep her strength about her in order to exact revenge upon the family. She prepared a potion to do so, but she found that it would only maintain it potency if she cooked and ate a young man who had never known the love of a woman at each full moon."

"Now that the Princess is of an age to marry, she is putting her plan into motion. With the souls of 100 maidens untouched by any man, she will turn the kingdom into perpetual winter at the coming of the equinox and everyone will be at her mercy for food and warmth. If she has taken the Princess, she must be close to exacting her revenge. She would be, as I reckon number 99 and she will only need one more to do the deed."

"This prophecy has been passed down for many a year through all the women of the kingdom. That is why it is said, that if you find your true love, marry him quickly or you may find that he is gracing the old witch's dinner table come the full moon. I say go home and be quick about it. Do not try to save her or she will eat you too."

With that the old woman tottered away and went back to her gardening. Sorely frightened, the men made some quick plans. One of them leapt onto his horse and rode like the wind to the castle to tell the King what had occurred. Another one rode the other way towards home with Frederick sitting behind him, hoping to get him there in time for him to pack up and hide so the King wouldn't take his head for all this and the third stayed put waiting for the others to return and made plans to get as far away from this kingdom as they could before the equinox hit for they had no desire to be trapped in perpetual winter, starving and freezing with no hope in sight.

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So there you have it, the first chapter. It's not looking good for the kingdom. Will the brothers be able to save the day once again? Check out the next chapter as Jake tries to talk Will into rescuing the Princess. Will he accept the challenge or will he think it's a fool's quest? Read on and see.

***Authors note: I notice a lot of my readers are not going past the first chapter. I promise that as the brothers become involved and the story unfolds, you will really like it. If there's something about this chapter that you don't really like, please post a review and let me know so I can fix it before I get too far along. I don't want readers to abandon the story before all the action really gets going, so let me know if this beginning sucks or not and why. Thanks in advance.**

Just so you know, it carries elements from at least six of the Brother's fairy-tales and several Mother Goose rhymes. Just for a little fun as you go along, test your knowledge and see how many you can find.


	2. Wilhelm and Jakob in Partnership

Well that is a pretty pickle they found themselves in isn't it? Did the brother's know all about it? Why no, not yet and yes they are going to help. Now let me tell you a little bit about just how they finally got involved...

**Wilhelm and Jakob in Partnership**

The small town of Marbaden bustled with its usual activity. It was now late August and the summer's heat had finally broken giving way to cooler breezes in the evenings. The days were now obviously growing shorter and the townsfolk were preparing to begin bringing in the fall crops. The crickets sang now even in the daytime and the smell of ripening wheat filled the air.

In a small cottage that was once home to the fair and feisty Angelika , two brothers made their home and kept it as they could. The front door was open allowing a cool breeze to blow through from time to time and the remains of the breakfast fire were slowly burning down to embers on the hearth.

Jakob sat at the table surrounded by a few empty cups and plates. His quill pen scratching as he wrote furiously on the pages of his journal. He would periodically stop and stare up into the air, his hands gesturing back and forth and his lips moving as he thought. The he would utter "Ah!", dip his pen and begin scratching away once again. Nothing made Jakob happier than writing stories, letting his imagination roam where it may.

His brother Wilhelm was not so happy. He sat by what remained of the fire poking it with a small stick and looking very worried. They had just finished a very meager breakfast of dark bread and cheese and he knew their stores wouldn't last much longer. They hadn't much money left either and the winter was coming soon. Publishing their first book be damned, they may starve to death this winter before that dream ever came true.

Will tossed the stick into the fire and it blazed up merrily for a few short moments and then died down into a dark smoldering ember matching his mood.

"Dammit Jake! What are we going to do?" he lamented, "We haven't enough money to get the book you seem so intent on finishing printed now. But far above that, what are we going to do about food? The cupboard is nearly bare and if we don't find a way to earn our bread we will surely starve this winter!"

"Don't worry so much Will", said Jakob not even bothering to look up or stop writing, "Have faith, everything will work itself out in the end. You'll see."

"Faith?" said Will mocking his brother's naiveté, "The way I see it, faith never won a man anything and faith will certainly not fill a starving belly! Wake up Jake, we're doomed!"

"Ah, but not all is lost dear brother. For I have a plan that I believe should put a fair amount of coin in our pocket. Want to hear about it or are you going to continue to fuss like an old hen?"

Will was surprised at his brother's sudden level-headedness. He put his hands on the table and leaned forward with great interest. "Well let's hear it. I'm all ears!" he said with a big grin.

Jakob stopped writing and looked up at him, adjusting his glasses to focus on his face. "Well. I've been hearing these stories from traders coming into town for the last month. It seems that there is this kingdom, no more that a weeks ride or so from here, who is suddenly missing quite a large number of young girls and to make it more interesting everyone who has gone out looking for them has gone missing as well."

Will began to loose his charming smile and look a bit upset. "There have also been recent reports of other odd goings on as well and it seems the King's daughter has disappeared herself. He's offered quite a sizable reward for her return. Will, this sounds like something that only someone with our expertise could handle. What do you think?" He looked at Will with the innocent look a child might get when begging their mother for something sweet. Will's smile had completely faded and was replaced with a very cross look indeed.

"Are you out of you mind!" snapped Will, "Just what kind of fool are you? Don't you remember what happened the last time you got us involved in something like this? It's only been less than a year and it's obviously already slipped your mind. You almost got yourself killed last time; I almost got killed last time and for what? A few measly pieces of gold and this ramshackle house that's about to fall down around us? Fighting evil queens, collapsing towers…bah!"

He touched the spot on his chest where the Mirror Queen had thrust the metal stake through his heart. The wound had long since gone away, but there was still a cold, sad place there that never seemed to want to go away. He looked around the room and now a new irritation came to mind. If he was going to vent about this, he figured he might as well get it all out in one bout, so there was no mistake that he wasn't about to go riding off to his doom at the hands of one of Jake's idiotic fairytale creatures.

"And why is it, pray tell, that someone else always gets the girl, never one of us?" he continued waving his arms about to show they were the only ones there. "I thought one of us would end up with Angelika. After all, she did show interest in both of us and I always thought it would be you she chose. Although I did try very hard to win her myself, but no, she had to run off with that no-good shoemaker from the next village. You know the one that miraculously started making the finest shoes in the kingdom almost over night and got rich selling them all to the King himself? There was something very shifty about the whole business and I should know!"

Will ran both his hands through his hair in frustration and putting them out in front of him in a pleading gesture he said, "No Jake, no; we cannot get ourselves into a situation as crazy as that again. There has to be another way!"

Jakob put down his pen for the first time all day and got up from the table. Going to his brother, he grasped Will's forearms in his large, strong hands and looked him in the eye. "Will calm down, it's going to be alright", he said in a soothing voice trying to calm him down, "I know what I'm getting into and how to handle this. Besides this will be a piece of cake compared to the last time. All we have to do is go in, get the girl and get back out eh?"

Jake patted his brother on the shoulder; then crossing his arms and grinding his heel into the floor as he leaned back, he looked over the top of his glasses at him saying, "I know you can do this. I have faith in you."

There was that word again. Now what was he going to say? He always had a hard time saying no to Jakob. Even though he was the eldest, he always had a way of acting like a precocious child in getting his way, well at least he got it most of the time. Will felt his resolve start to weaken, but he still didn't want to get involved.

It occurred to him that there might be a way to get the reward without risking their lives. He looked around the room quickly and his eye fell on the trunks in the corner that contained his old gear. He quickly began to unload the boxes that sat on top as he rattled off his idea,

"I have an idea. I know we still have that old witch stashed in here somewhere and we can use that. We can also bring with us some of those grand Chinese pyrotechnics, you know, the gold ones!'

"Will,,,"

"We just need to change the clothing a bit and then we can set up in the woods not to far from the castle. Then after a lot of shouting and the light show, we can hang it from a tree just far enough up so they can't really tell and say we've killed the kidnapper."

"Will?"

"Then all we have to say is that we'll do the nasty deed of burying him and that we have freed all the girls and they should return shortly. Collect our reward and be gone before they are any the wiser!"

"WILL!!"

"What?...WHAT?!"

Jakob stood there still looking at him over his glasses, but now he wore a thin-lipped frown.

"No…"

"But I…"

"No."

"Oh, your right", said Wilhelm sounding despondent, "This will never work, but it's the best I could come up with on such short notice."

"What happened to the promise that you made months ago that you were going to stop this?" said Jakob sounding disappointed, "I thought you were finally coming around."

Will dropped the box he was holding back on top of the pile. "I'm sorry Jake, but this is all I really know how to do! Look, I'm lost in this world of yours and I don't know what to do." He shrugged and let his arms fall limp looking rather sad now, "You're very clever about these things and all I'm really good at is charming people out of their purses. I can accept the fact the world is filled with gullible fools, but I can't accept your version of it. I don't think I can change who I am or what I believe quite so easily."

"You don't have to change it all at once you know. Just take it slowly and change one thing at a time."

"Like what?"

"Oh I don't know", Jake began, his hands flying about dramatically to illustrate his points, "Change the way you think about one situation, change the way you perceive one person, change your perspective!" He began to get flustered trying to think of something else to say, "Change your mind, change your underwear!"

"My underwear?" asked Will slightly bewildered.

Jake winced and shook his head back and forth trying to get back on subject. He leaned forward and stuck his finger in his brother's face just inches from his nose. "The whole point is, change something, anything and start from there!"

Jake whipped around and grabbed his pen and ink in one hand and scooped up his journal with the other and breezed out the door, his long legs carrying him out in just three strides. Will stood there with his mouth hanging open and watched him go.

He was just a bit stunned by the whole event and he began pacing back and forth inside the cottage and thinking. What was he going to do now? How was he going to deal with this? Frustrated he began chewing his nails while he paced. What the worst thing was is that he had upset and disappointed his brother. Damned if he actually didn't feel guilty about it!

Will strode to the doorway and looked out past the well in the town square. There under a tree sat Jake, his journal open on his lap the pen scratching across the page furiously. Will rested his hand on the doorframe and watched him quietly. As he watched, he thought the situation they were in may not be as bad as he imagined it to be.

Jake stopped writing and closed his eyes, his hands moved through the air in front of him as he imagined the scene he was writing in his head. Another "Ah!" moment and he went back in, but an unintended flick of the wrist had spattered ink blots across the page. Jake tried to clean it up with a piece of blotting paper, but to no avail. Oh well, not to do but write around the blotches.

Will smiled. His brother still had a way about him that made you think of him as a small child trapped in a man's body, but lately he had begun to lead and not just follow, to voice his opinions regardless of the price he might pay for doing so and with that last speech just a few moments ago, showing a very mature wisdom. He was becoming his own man. Why had he not noticed it before?

Will smiled and thought that he still believed running off to rescue a Princess was a bit on the crazy side, but he decided he had better tag along just to make sure his older brother didn't find himself in some sort of trouble he couldn't get out of by himself. With a resolve to see this through for his brother's sake, he strode out the door and across the square to where Jake sat.

Will crossed his arms and stood silent for a few moments. Then clearing his throat, he muttered, "Jakob?"

"Yes, Will", was his reply as he continued writing.

"If you really think rescuing the Princess and finding all the maidens is that important and if you think there is reward enough for doing so then I've decided…I've decided to agree to it and I think we should go."

Jake looked up at him over the top of his glasses with an expression of utter surprise. "Really", he said flatly.

"Really"

Jake jumped up and grabbed his brother by the shoulders, a wide smile spreading across his face. "You won't regret this, I promise!" he said bubbling with enthusiasm, "Let's go and pack so we can get started right away!"

Jake grabbed his things and headed for the house with Will in tow trying to keep up. "Um,,,well, what should we bring with us?" he asked his younger brother, "you are infinitely better at that than I am." Will rattled off a few things they could carry with them and Jake added a couple himself. Jake's big brown eyes twinkled with joy at the thought of this adventure and his joy was becoming infectious as Will was feeling it too. So much so that at the end of the supply list he slyly tacked on "clean underwear" and flashed a wide grin at Jake. Jake returned that wide grin and wrapped his arm around his brother's neck hugging him tightly and practically dragged him into the doorway of the cottage.

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Just so you know, if you've already read the first chapter "Once Upon A Time"before February 4,2009, you may want to go back and re-read the opening before the story starts. I've edited in a small new section above the title.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope I didn't go too OOC with Jake and Will. Chapter three is in the works, so stay tuned. Please leave a review, good or bad. I'd love to hear from you.


	3. First Impressions

Well Jakob did have a time talking his brother into going along with him now didn't he? You see, Wilhelm didn't believe in such things back then, but in time he did wholeheartedly. Now listen carefully children. The brothers are about to enter a very strange place and meet some very odd people. But then again sometimes you really can't tell by...

**First Impressions**

Wilhelm and Jakob had left the next morning and had donned their best clothes to make a good impression on the King upon their arrival. They had made good time traveling after they had found a farmer hauling a wagonload of vegetables into town that was willing to give them a lift. Upon arriving at the gates of the town they opted to walk the rest of the way with their bags with the goal of either finding an inn or failing that, going straight to the castle.

At first glance the town looked like any other, with the townsfolk bustling about and the children playing in the streets. However, as Wilhelm and Jakob wandered through the busy streets, it became quite clear there was something rather odd going on.

They came upon a man standing in a paddock shearing one lone black sheep. The pile of wool behind him was twice as tall as he was and several feet wide. The brothers stared as they realized that no matter how many passes the man took with the shears, the wool just seemed to grow right back. They found this puzzling, but not as puzzling as the young boy whom they saw repeatedly jumping over a candle in a brass holder in front of his house. His mother lamented that he should stop, but it was as if he couldn't hear her and just kept jumping. Farther down the street a woman came running out of her house holding a large knife following a small herd of mice that were running over the top of each other and bumping into things. Across the street a man and a woman were scooping up eggs into baskets, crates and pans as fast as they could while a single black hen was laying them nine and ten at a time.

Jake and Will looked at each other and decided it was best to keep moving. Just then a small boy came running up to them dressed in a nightshirt. He yelled at them, "Do you know where your children are? It's ten o'clock you know!" He then ran off and proceeded to knock on doors all the way down the street.

"What is wrong with these people?" asked Will looking very uneasy.

"I'm not sure", replied Jake, "but I'm willing to venture it's connected to those missing girls. Remember I told you there had been talk of some odd goings on."

"Yes, very odd indeed", said Will moving a little closer to his brother's side.

Trying to talk to any of them or get directions to an inn or the castle was just useless. They stopped to speak to a street vendor who was having an argument with a supposed customer and were completely ignored. "Don't you see I don't have any pies right now? You are a simpleton indeed!" They also tried a young girl who came running past them, but all she could say to them was "Have you seen my sheep?" No matter who they tried to talk to they were either ignored or pushed out of the way as people went on with what they were doing as if the brothers didn't exist. The village was in total chaos.

Will leaned closer to his brother and whispered, "I believe we are possibly the only sane people in this town at the moment." He was considering perhaps his agreeing to go along with Jakob's idea might not have been a sound decision after all.

As they rounded a corner a young lad came running straight at them with a small squealing pig tucked under his arm. He was running full tilt and ran right between them, shoving them apart in opposite directions. They both looked back and watched him cut around the corner they just left. Jake and Will looked at each other and shrugged. They resumed their direction, but one just step later, a young woman with brunette curls, wearing a plain brown dress and white apron slammed full force straight into Jakob knocking him backward a few steps. The girl wasn't so lucky. She bounced backward off of Jake, tripped on the hem of her skirt and landed flat on her backside in the dirt with a thump. She looked up at Jakob with fire in her eyes.

"Why don't you look where you're going!" she snapped at him while she tried to get up, "Knocking down women on public streets. What is wrong with you, you great clumsy jackass!!"

Jake, totally confused, pushed his glasses up on his nose from where they'd been dislodged during the impact and stared at her with one eyebrow cocked up in the air and his mouth agape. Will however, being Will, rushed to her rescue and took her arm trying to help her up. It wasn't the best move at the moment. She wrenched her arm from Will's grasp and gave him an extremely offended look.

"Take your hands off me! I'm perfectly capable of getting up on my own, thank you!"

She got up and proceeded to brush the dirt off of her skirts. Jake just stood there staring at her a bit stupidly. Normally he would have apologized wholeheartedly, whether it was his fault or not and moved on, but something about this woman gave him a very unsettling feeling. He found himself quite offended by her remark and he felt his temper slipping.

"I beg your pardon", snapped Jake, "but it was you who ran into me and considering as it was you who ended up in the street, I would venture to say I'm not the clumsy one!"

"Oh!? Well how could I avoid it with you walking blindly right out in front of me?" she snapped back getting closer to his face, "And now you've cost me my best pig! Despite all your fancy clothes, you're obviously an uneducated oaf that pays little attention to anything but yourself!"

Jakob, with his face scrunched up in a huff, leaned forward directly into hers. He brought his hands up as if he were about to strangle her and after working his fingers back and forth for a few seconds as if debating whether he should or not, he dropped his left hand down to his side and stuck the index finger of his other hand directly at the end of her nose. Will was mystified; he had never seen his brother like this before. He thought it best to intervene before this got too far out of hand.

"And you…" Jakob began, practically shouting.

Wilhelm pushed his brother's hand out of the way he stepped between them and quickly grabbed the girl's hand in both of his. He put on his most charming smile and his brown eyes twinkled with his best fake sincerity.

"Oh I'm so sorry Fraulein, We meant no harm", He practically oozed with charm and grace trying to smooth things over, "My brother can be a bit oafish at times."

He turned and gave him a look that said 'say anything and I'll kick you, I swear!', then he turned and continued smiling broadly at the girl. "It seems we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Let's try again, shall we? I'm Wilhelm Grimm, at your service." He bowed at the waist deeply, "and this is my brother Jakob." Jake smiled at her begrudgingly. "We've heard about the King's predicament and we've only come here to see what assistance we can render in the return of his lovely daughter. I am so very sorry about the loss of your pig. Perhaps we can find some way to help you recover it, yes?"

Will was doing a rather good job at it this time and the girl began to calm down a bit. She looked past Will and glared at Jakob as he glared back, biting his lower lip in an effort to keep his mouth shut. She looked back at Will and smiled slightly. 'At least he was trying to be a gentleman' she thought, but when she realized he was still holding her hand, she pulled it away.

"My name is Katherine and I live here with my brother Fredrick. I am pleased to meet you sir." She curtsied politely but a bit stiffly. She still wasn't sure about trusting them, but somehow she thought their names sounded familiar.

"Would you be so kind as to tell us just what seems to be going on here?" asked Will, "If you don't mind my saying so, everyone here seems to be acting a bit strangely."

Kate explained that about mid-summer a few young girls had disappeared in the woods and that anyone who went looking for them also never came back. It was said that it happened in other towns and villages as well. About that time the townsfolk started reciting rhymes for no apparent reason as if they were being made to do so and not unlike some evil spell, they became real. Thankfully most only lasted a short time, but it occurred several times a day making it almost impossible to get any of their daily chores completed.

The explanation got Jakob's mind going. With a very puzzled look on his face, he closed his eyes and concentrated. With his hands out in front of him, fingers pointing, he mentally ran down the list of odd occurrences they had seen on the way through town checking each one off with a flick of his wrist. "Rhymes…rhymes…" he muttered as he thought. "Oh yes, of course. Nursery rhymes!!" he said ecstatically as his eyes popped open, "Will this is fantastic! Can you believe it? The sheep, the mice, the little boy, even the pig! These people are actual living nursery rhymes! See didn't I tell you this trip would be worth it? I don't know why I didn't see it before!" Jake dug out his journal from his shoulder bag and started making notes about everything they had seen.

Will just shook his head and turned once again to Kate, "I don't suppose after all this that you would mind helping us out? Perhaps, as we haven't much money with us, you could point us towards an inexpensive inn for the night? Also, if it's not too much to ask, we will need directions to the castle so that we might proceed with our task.

First she looked at Jakob standing in the middle of the street mumbling to himself and writing quickly in his journal. There was something about him that made her feel rather odd. She was sure she didn't like him, but at the same time she was rather curious about him as well. Then she turned back to Will, who greeted her look with his best winning smile. She wasn't to sure what to make of the tall one, but she was beginning to like Will well enough.

By now she was beginning to realize who they were and their reputation had preceded them. Luckily for them, she had only heard the good parts. She decided it shouldn't be too risky to have them around if they are as good as the stories said they were. "Done and done", she said, "I have an extra room. Why don't you stay the night with me and my brother? You can keep your coins in your pocket a while longer. It will be no trouble and I'm sure Fredrick would be happy to meet you. He's been making me insane trying to come up with ways to save the Princess for days now. Perhaps if he meets the famous Brothers Grimm, who are experts in this sort of thing, he will see that what's in his head is just utter foolishness and forget about it."

Will thought things couldn't have worked out better. Acquiring a free room and no doubt a free meal plus the company of a rather lovely woman? Perfect! Will bowing to her once again said, "Thank you, I believe we shall." He grabbed a satchel in one hand and extended an elbow to Kate. She smiled and took his arm, leading the way.

"Jake!" yelled Will behind him, "Get the bags and hurry up!"

"Um…yes right!" he said looking up at the two of them as they left him standing alone in the street. He tucked away his book and struggled to grab the rest of the bags. As he trotted along to catch up, he noticed the woman talking to his brother and laughing at his bad jokes. There was still something about her that irritated him somehow and for some unknown reason he couldn't identify, he really didn't like her being so close to his brother, No, he really didn't like it one little bit!

Upon arriving at the cottage Kate introduced the brothers to Fredrick. He was overjoyed that they were there to help him rescue the Princess. Kate had to remind him that this might be well out of his league, but he persisted in believing he could be of great help.

After the brothers had settled in, they listened to Fred's story about the day the Princess went missing and Kate recalled the legend of the old witch and told them of that as well.

As Kate and Fredrick went about laying out supper Will leaned over and looked Jake straight in the eye, "An evil witch?" he said sounding quite irritated, "I thought you said this wouldn't be like the other time, that this would be easy. This is _just_ like the other time! Jakob, how could you?"

"Well how was I to know?" he said sounding irritated as well. He was still a bit on edge from the earlier event in the street and was feeling uncomfortable about staying in the house even if it were just for one night, "Look, the difference this time is that we are going in with more information than before. We have experience in this area now. At least we know what we're up against and it should be a cut and dried thing. Besides, these people desperately need our help. What are we supposed to do now? Just say 'Sorry, but we've made a big mistake in coming here and now you're on your own' and leave?"

Will thought for a moment. They were certainly well into this now and they could back out, but it really just wouldn't be right.

"Besides", said Jakob, ribbing his brother a bit, "Aren't you the expert on removing evil witches?"

Will just shook his head and smiled, "Very well, we're onto it then. But the minute it gets too dangerous, we back off, right? I mean, there is a limit."

"Very well", said Jake smiling back.

As they all sat down to supper, plans were laid out and discussed. The planning, discussion and even an argument or two continued well into the night.

* * *

Ouch! Four obviously clashing personalies. Isn't this going to be a fun ride. This is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the odd goings on in this town. In the next chapter the brothers find out just how really wrong things can go here.

What, no love for the Grimmies? Please read and review. Just so you know, I've turned on anonymous reviews so anyone can post.

Thanks to SakuraKiss234 for putting this on her favorite stories list. *Hugs!!


	4. The King of the Sleeping Castle

How many rhymes were there? What happened to the pig? Did she really like Wilhelm more than Jakob? Ack! so many questions! If you keep asking them then I will never get to the best part of the story! Now this is where things start to get exciting. Listen quietly and I will tell you about the brothers and their visit to...

**The King of the Sleeping Castle**

The following morning, Jakob and Wilhelm set off to see the King. As they made their way up the sloping hillside the bells of the great cathedral in the center of town rang half past ten. Because they had been up most of the night talking and planning with Katherine and Fredrick, they had slept in a bit too long.

Despite the fact they looked a bit weary, they had dressed in their best clothes once again and at least tried to look professional. Will chattered on as they walked trying to work out the best way to present their proposition to the King.

As they finally reached the castle and approached the open drawbridge, they noted that something peculiar was going on with the inhabitance of the castle. The two guards at the entrance were fast asleep. As they passed them and entered the great hall leading to the throne room, they saw that the courtiers were asleep as well. There were at least three dozen people scattered about in chairs and on the floor fast asleep. It looked as if they had fallen exactly were they had stood.

Will and Jake continued on, unopposed so far, into the throne room. They kept silent for fear of waking the sleepers. In the throne room the scene was mostly the same. Men and women in fancy court dress sleeping on the floor, in chairs and on the benches that lined three long banquet tables. The room was a nice mess, with cups, plates and food scattered everywhere on the tables and the floor.

The King himself sat snoring on his throne, leaning to his right with his head propped up on one arm. He was a rather large man with a round face and funny little beard. As Will approached him he kicked an empty wine bottle by accident and it rolled, clinking across the stone floor before coming to rest against the foot of a rather tall, thin man fast asleep at the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne. The brother's froze in their tracks and waited, but no one moved.

As they stood there the church bells rang 11 o'clock. They looked at each other and nodded. Not to do but wake someone and introduce themselves. They both headed for the tall thin man at the bottom of the stairs. They had only taken two steps forward when two very sharp spears appeared and crossed in front of their faces with a menacing clank making them stop dead. Staring at the spears, they began to follow the shafts back, each in the opposite direction, to see who was on the other end. However their curiosity was interrupted by a deep strong voice coming from in front of them. Their heads snapped forward towards the voice.

"Who are you two and what do you want here?" The King was now awake, none to happy he had uninvited guests.

"Uh we are…" began Will nervously. The spears were a little too close for comfort, so using two fingers he lightly pushed them down a bit and peered over the top, trying again, "We are here to make our introductions. We have heard about your plight and feel we can be of great service to you."

The King sighed wearily, "I've no time for introductions today and I have no need for any more servants about the castle." He tiredly raised his hand to dismiss them, "Guards, show them out."

The two guards took a step forward attempting to grab Jake and Will to drag them out of the room. The brothers put up their hands to stop the onslaught and Will fearing the loss of the opportunity and the money that would result, blurted out, "But we've come to save the Princess!"

"Wait!" commanded the King, his curiosity getting the better of him, "Let them come forward."

Everyone in the castle was now awake and a crowd had begun to form around the visitors. The guards backed off and Will stepped forward with confidence and a broad winning smile on his face. With an audience he was now in his element. Jakob was a bit more hesitant, but he tried to look as noble as possible while holding onto his satchel the contained his journal for dear life.

Will got the show on the road. "Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen of the court. We are the famous Brothers Grimm! I am Wilhelm and this fine fellow is my brother, Jakob. We have fought dark-hearted witches, evil dwarves and cantankerous carnivores of all kinds. We have performed hundreds of exorcisms on every sort of vaporous spirit, odorous demon and ghostly nuisance imaginable! Apparitions are our specialty. Just recently my brother, Jakob dispatched the evil Mirror Queen of Marbaden with nothing more than blind determination and a large rock whilst fighting off at least a dozen large possessed ravens!" This elicited "oohs" and "ahhs" from the crowd.

"He then proceeded to break the evil spell over twelve enchanted young maidens with but a single kiss!" This line brought forth "Ohs!" and nervous giggles from the ladies and mumbled conversion among the gentlemen which was sounding quite positive for the moment. Jakob bit his bottom lip, tried not to blush and failed. Will thought that this should do well enough to stir up interest and finished it off grandly. "We have heard of your plight here in this wonderful kingdom of yours and we have decided to lend our services to you, for a reasonable fee of course, to expedite the return of your lovely daughter as well as the rest of those of the fairer sex who have also been spirited away and return your kingdom and the people to it's former state of peace! We are at your service!"

Will bowed low from the waist and threw in a little extra flair by sweeping one arm up into the air and flicking his wrist. 'Oh, he's good' thought Jake. They waited in deafening silence and all eyes in the room were on them. It seemed forever before the King spoke.

"Either you are the biggest con artists in Prussia or the biggest fools. Either way this should prove interesting. Just what is your plan for doing this?"

Will and Jake looked at each other with a bit of a loss. Somehow they had failed to think that far ahead. It was assumed he would accept the offer, no questions asked. After a couple of tense seconds, Will spoke up first, "Oh we have plan Your Majesty."

"A very solid plan indeed", put in Jakob

"Well, what is it?" asked the King, his patience growing thin.

"Yes Jakob, why don't you tell him what it is?"

Jake gave him a "damn you!" look and made a mental note to give his brother his just reward later for hanging him out to dry the way he did. "Yes..well..um…you see what we will do" he cleared his throat to waste time, but it really didn't help much, "What we will do is…go in…and dispatch the witch…and um, free the girls and bring them back home. Yes, it's very simple, you see?"

"Yes, very simple", added Will

"Yes, I see", said the King rubbing his chin in thought, "and just how do you plan on dispatching this witch when no one seems to have been able to so far?"

"Oh well, I'm afraid that's a bit of a trade secret Your Majesty." 'That should cover it', thought Will.

"Well I really don't see how..." began the King, but Will thought it best to change the subject away from that line of questioning for now until he could think of something better.

"Excuse me for interrupting Your Majesty, but I notice there is some disarray here in the castle. Some sort of celebration perhaps or is it as I fear, something more sinister?"

"Ah, but it were only a celebration", lamented the King, "sinister indeed. I know you have seen it in the town below. Those confounded rhymes turning everyone's life to chaos."

Will knew he had hit on something that he could use to thoroughly convince the King to pay them dearly. "Go on, Your Majesty."

"It started right after my beloved daughter was taken from me. Her betrothed, Prince Alaric bravely went out to find her and never returned. That's when it happened; the entire castle was hit with a terrible enchantment. It was done by that witch, no doubt, in order to keep us from sending anyone else to stop her. Now each day when the bells toll noon I am forced to recite a rhyme and one only, but that one is all consuming! Each day we are forced to banquet! We eat, we drink, we dance and we cannot stop nor can we leave the castle at any time to escape it. Anyone caught here after the banquet begins, can never leave!"

The brothers gave each other concerned glances as they listened to the King's words. "We are forced to go on until well after the moon has risen and then we fall into a deep sleep. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing it matters not. We fall and we cannot awake until the bells toll eleven the next day. Only one hour of peace do we get and then it begins again! Oh, but I would love to be able to just rule my kingdom peace once again!"

"Oh well, this is quite a predicament you're in, isn't it?" said Jakob sounding very concerned.

Will took this as his cue and thought this would be a good time to seal the deal. "Oh my, yes! I'm afraid this may require a little more enumeration on your part for it may have to be treated as a separate exorcism. I was thinking…"

"Don't listen to them Your Majesty. They are the worst type of con men imaginable. I thought their names sounded familiar, so I had my secretary look them up." The King's Chamberlain stepped up next to the throne and cut Will's proposal short. He was the tall, thin man that Will had hit in the foot with the wine bottle earlier. Awake he looked even thinner and more somber if that were possible.

"I beg your pardon sir, but we are truly here only to help." Jakob was trying to sound as honest as possible regardless of Will's speech earlier. "Your Majesty, really you must believe us. We only have the best interests of the kingdom in mind."

"Nonsense!" shouted the Chamberlain, "I have here three separate warrants that have been issued by various villages calling for their immediate arrest. One requests they be burned at the stake for the practice of witchcraft. It seems all the village goats took it upon themselves to jump off a cliff after the villagers refused to pay for a second exorcism when they claimed first one didn't take due to the fact the townspeople had supplied them with the wrong kind of wine for the ritual cleansing. Another for taking an exorbitant amount for what was later discovered to be an infestation of rats in the Miller's barn and a third, not for the work itself, but the short one seems to have sullied the reputation of one of the girls in the village!"

'The goats weren't our fault' thought Will, 'who knew that there was a beehive in the tree next to that cliff and it would choose that particular moment to fall.' However he didn't think the incident with the red-haired girl would come back to bite him. After all he had left her with a very broad and lovely smile on her face. Or was it the blond? He had no time to worry about it now. The whole affair was about to go south on them. 'Time to play the "intelligence" card', he thought.

"Your Majesty really, these were all misunderstandings with the people. You know how superstitious these simple village folk can be and their intelligence level; well, let's just say they're not the sharpest sorts. What we do is very complex and scientific. It simply is beyond their true understanding."

Jakob jumped in to bolster the argument, "Not like you, Your Majesty. Clearly such a wise and benevolent ruler such as you can see what we do is a very necessary thing, given the current situation. After all you are a scholarly person, anyone can see that."

"Intelligent and bright", interjected Will.

"And brave!" Will shot him a "don't push it!" look. "Um, well yes, so you would know better than mere peasants that our services are honest and aboveboard."

"The Chamberlain shot back, "Your Majesty, these charlatans will only…" But he was cut off as the King raised his hand for silence.

After a few moments of again rubbing his chin in deep thought, he had made his decision. "Very well, I will allow you to take on this fool's quest and if you are by some far outside chance successful, you will be compensated well and by my decree all warrants shall be voided."

The Chamberlain was visibly upset, but the brothers were elated. "But there is a condition", he continued, "Guards, seize him!" He had pointed to Will and the guards were on him in seconds, scooping him up by the upper arms and holding him tight. He wore a panicked look as he found he couldn't move and his feet barely touched the floor. Jakob was thoroughly confused, "Your Majesty?"

"This will be my guarantee that this will be done and done properly. Your brother will be our honored guest lodged in the tower above us. You have thirty days in which to return my daughter to me and when you do; he will be released. If you do not return in that time, Herr Grimm, your brother will lose his head. You will be found and turned over to that village that wished to burn you at the stake. Do I make myself clear?"

All the color had drained out of Jakob's face and he felt a bit faint. This was not how it was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a very simple task, but it had now gone so far a field there was no way back. His promise to Will echoed in his head, 'the minute it gets too dangerous, we back off, right?' There was no backing off to be done here. They were now up to their necks in it and it was either sink or swim.

"But Your Majesty, I cannot work without Wilhelm", Jake stammered, "It takes both of us to do some of the things we do and this will not work unless we go in as a team! Please, I cannot do this alone!"

"Then I suggest you quickly learn how", the King drove home his point by leaning forward and looking at Jake through squinted eyes. "Again, do I make myself clear?"

Jakob was completely devastated. His shoulders slumped and the pain on his face was very evident. "Yes you do, Your Majesty."

The guards began dragging Will out the side door and away to the tower. He yelled all the way out and up the hallway, "You can do this Jake, I know you can! I know you won't fail me! I have faith in you Jakob, I have faith in you!"

Beautiful! For all the times he had counseled Wilhelm on the usefulness of faith, now had to be the time he took it to heart. However as he stood there, stunned as the guards took him away, he could hear the sound of ridicule in Wilhelm's voice. Even though he was a trained scholar and top of his class, Will had always treated him as an untrustworthy fool and now he felt as if he were mocking him in front of the entire crowd. Jakob would rather he just called him an idiot and boxed his ears. It would have hurt much less.

There was little time to think about it for at that moment, the church bells begin to toll noon. The sound was like a cold stake piercing Jakob's heart.

"I suggest you get on your way Herr Grimm or you will be joining us at banquet instead of completing your quest", advised the King.

Jake turned and ran for the throne room door. Behind him he heard the King speaking in forced tones.

"Old King Cole was a merry old soul!"

He tore his way across the great hall as the cursed bells continued to peal and the King continued on, the words forced from his lips.

The bells had almost finished ringing as Jake made it to the drawbridge at a full run. He could hear the King had only one line left before it was too late. The two door guards at begun raising the drawbridge as if in a trance. No matter how he shouted at them to lower it, they heard nothing. He had to get out now. Taking a few steps back he ran full speed at the great slab of closing wood and ran straight up it to the top. He took a giant leap into the air as the sound of the bells faded in his ears and was replaced with laughter and loud fiddle music accompanied by a drum, lute and whistle.

Jakob landed face first in the dirt on the other side of the moat that flowed around the castle. He got up spitting dirt and his glasses were slightly bent. After a bit of bending he put them back on and looked up at the castle. The sounds of a grand party came from inside, but he paid it no mind. His eye was on the tower where he knew his brother was now captive with no way out except to depend upon him to finish this task alone.

"Oh Will, I am so sorry", he whispered. There was nothing more he could do but get back to town, pack and get moving as soon as possible.

When Jakob had gotten back to Frederick and Katherine's cottage he was out of breath and visibly upset. He had run the entire way down the mountain back to town and had come charging into the house. He practically threw his satchel and jacket across the room. Kate was surprised and very concerned about the outburst.

"What's wrong Jakob, what happened?" she asked, "and where's Wilhelm?"

"Oh, it's horrible, just horrible" lamented Jake. He went on to explain what had happened at the castle, his hands flying in all directions as he went from indignant to angry to desperate. He sat down heavily on a bench and holding his head in his hands he said sadly, "Oh Wilhelm, what's happened is entirely my fault. Why did I have to talk you into getting involved in this? Why?"

"Don't worry my friend", chirped Frederick, "You can do this. I know you can and guess what? I'll go along with you and take his place. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it! I'll help you get rid of that nasty witch and save the Princess! Then we'll get your brother back. You'll see!"

"That's very noble of you Frederick, but I can't let you get tangled up in this. What needs to be done is far beyond your scope."

"He's right Frederick", Kate said, "This is more than you can do alone. This is why I'm coming along as well. You'll need at least two heads to make up for the absence of your brother!"

"I should say not!" protested Jake, "It's too dangerous for the untrained to do something like this, least of all taking a woman along. I won't have it! I'm the one who got us into this predicament, not you. This is something I will have to handle myself!"

"Just what do you mean by that remark?" snapped Kate, "I am just as capable of helping out as anyone else is even though I'm "just a woman". Don't be foolish. This is not your fault and I won't hear of you going out there alone. I should think you'd want all the help you can get to save your brother."

Jake had launched into a list of, what seemed to her, hollow reasons why they shouldn't get involved. She could see she wasn't getting through, so she sighed loudly and looked forlornly out of the window at the castle above. "Oh poor Will, locked away up there in that tower all alone. I can't stand idly by day after day thinking about him and how he could die alone up there. He is such a good man and never meant anyone any harm. Well, we are both going to help you and save poor Wilhelm's life and that's that."

"Bravo Kate!" shouted Frederick.

Jake was taken off guard by that speech. The way she was pining over Will as if he were already dead was about nauseating. 'I must be in the ninth circle of hell', thought Jakob, "where they send those who betray their own kin.' Now having reached his maximum point of desperation, he supposed it couldn't be any worse with two novices along, so he relented to let them come. Anything to get this over with, save his brother and be rid of these people.

Frederick was ecstatic about it and practically danced around the room with joy. "Yes! I'm going to get to rescue the Princess after all", he spouted joyfully, "and help save Will as well! See, I told you didn't I Kate? I'm going to be a hero after all!"

Kate could see their offer didn't help lighten Jakob's mood any. He sat wearily down on the bench near the fireplace and stared at the dancing flames. As he watched the flickering light and listened to the crackling embers, he tried to shut out the world around him. The pain and self-loathing were evident in his eyes. What had he done?

Kate sat down on the bench beside him. After a few moments, she turned to him and in a gentle voice she said, "This turn of events is not you fault Jakob. Your brother is a grown man and he came here of his own free will. You didn't force him into this. Anything that he may have done in his past that may have come back to haunt him now were his own mistakes, not yours. You have to let this go and concentrate on the task at hand."

She went to the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of something a bit stronger than she usually served her guests and poured a glass.

"Drink it", she said handing Jake the glass, "it will help, trust me."

'This woman was a real enigma' he thought as he studied the dark brown liquid in the glass. He took a drink and it burned all the way down, but in a very pleasant way. He watched her as she fussed at Frederick for getting so overly excited at the prospect of the adventure. 'She doesn't really like me, I can tell and she seems so enamored of my brother, which is not anything new. He always seems to attract the attention of those of the fairer sex, but why should I care really. I don't like her either.'

He took another drink and it didn't burn quite so much this time. Kate came by and refilled the glass and this time she smiled down at him before moving off. 'But now here she is being nice to me. Why I wonder. So she can get her precious Will back no doubt.' He took a larger gulp this time and he began to feel numb around the edges, which was much better than the way he felt just moments ago. This sudden bout of caring and civility from the woman coupled with her gushing over Will earlier, was very confusing for some reason that he couldn't quite work out and it made him dislike her even more now than when he first met her. After studying the glass once again, he downed its entire contents in one gulp and turning once again to the flickering flames, he let the full numbing effect of the lovely brown liquid wash over him.

* * *

Well, it looks like they're into it now with no way out. Oh and btw, I know Jakob used the enchanted axe to shatter the mirror, but Will thought it would sound much more brave and dramatic if his said his brother used a rock. You can't argue with the main characters now can you? Poor Jakob. If you think he's stressed out now, just wait till the next chapter. Your reviews will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Woo Hoo! Finally a review! Thanks much JakobG!


	5. The Tower and The Travelers

Oh my yes! It is just terrible that Wilhelm has been locked away in that tower and poor Jakob feeling so sad about it! Ah, but see this is where the real adventure begins! What? Yes, I will tell you about what happens to Wilhelm in the tower if you really want to know and then you will find out how Jakob's journey finally gets started. You're sad about Will, little one? Well you needn't be. Then come and sit on my lap then and I'll tell you about...

**The Tower and The Travelers**

"I have faith in you Jakob!"

The guards had now reached the top of the stairs with Will still tightly in their grasp. One of them thrust a large metal key into the lock on the heavy wooden door and turned it with a heavy clunk. As the door swung open, they tossed Will into the room and slammed the door shut. The lock clanked shut sealing him in the room and he was now locked into highest tower of the castle with little hope of escape. Running to the door, he tested it, but found it was shut tight. He tried beating on it and yelling, but he knew it would do no good.

Will looked around the room for anything that might help him escape. It was a large room, but sparsely decorated with a bed, a wash stand and a small table on top of which sat a small oil lamp. 'Nothing', he thought despondently.

Then his eye fell upon the only window and he went to test that as well. It faced the front of the castle and overlooked the town below. It also sported six, inch-thick iron bars, not that he could just climb down if they weren't there. The only way down would be to fly or simply fall to his death, neither one being practical really, making the bars seem a bit much.

He slumped on the bed with his head in his hands somehow hoping this was just a bad dream and he would wake up soon to the sound of Jake snoring and talking in his sleep about trolls or some such nonsense, but alas, the only sound he heard were the church bells beginning to ring in the noon hour. What this meant hit him suddenly. Panic welled up inside as he ran to the window once again, grabbing the bars in both hands and pressing his face up against them to look down.

"Jake, where are you?" he said out loud, "you have to get out of there now!"

As the final peal of the bells faded, he was relieved to see his brother make the flying leap off the drawbridge just in time and winced as he watched him land face first in the dirt. At least his brother was free of all this. He saw Jakob look up at the tower then turn and run down the mountain towards town; knowing in his heart that he would get him out of there somehow, but at the same time Wilhelm felt a profound sense of loneliness. He and his brother were partners at the root of it all. Even with their bitter fights and disagreements, they were always together when it came to business, women, crazy adventures or simply polishing off a bottle of schnapps in the wee hours of the morning, partners in crime, as it were. He had no idea how long it would be before he would see Jakob again or if he ever would.

Will could hear the music and laughter coming from below and it wasn't making his mood any better. He paced back and forth in the room trying to think of ways to escape, but the music kept breaking his train of thought. The harder he tried the worse it became. Wilhelm's temper finally broke.

"Perhaps I shall go insane listening to all of the racket going on down there and at the end of thirty days I shall welcome my death with open arms!" he shouted to the empty room. Charging at the window and grabbing the bars in both hands so tightly his knuckles turned white, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Damn you, Jakob! How could I let you talk me into this?! You idiot, this is all your fault, you half-witted, thumb-sucking crybaby! Beans, Jakob BEANS!!

He slammed the palms of his hands against the bars a half dozen times and then grasping the bars once again, he hung his head. After a few moments he pushed away from the bars roughly and stuck his hands under his arms, hugging himself tightly. His hands burned from striking the bars and he felt completely stupid for doing it. Will hadn't had an outburst like that since Jake laid him out at the base of the tower. He hadn't so much as mentioned beans of any kind either. Will lightly touched the side of his face where his brother had hit him and slightly smiled. Jake packed a pretty hard punch and his hand was swollen for at least three days afterwards. He hadn't realized until then how much his words had hurt his brother, the only family he had left.

It was then it occurred to him that for some unknown reason the tower room he was in seemed to be immune to the enchantment the rest of the castle was under. He had no desire at all to be at banquet with the rest of them really, but it was an irritant just the same. 'Terrific', he thought, 'I'm stuck in my own private version of hell.' A party was in full swing and he hadn't been invited.

"At least if I were down there with them I could enjoy my final days or at the very least get something to eat", he said more or less talking to himself.

There was a noise in the hallway outside the door that made him stop and hope on some outside chance they had changed their minds and were going to let him out. He saw a small door open that was built into the bottom of the main door and a hand pushed a silver tray through laden with rich food and a bottle of wine. Will dove for the door, but found it was a bit too small for him to get through and even if he could fit, it didn't matter for they had locked it tight as well. Picking up the tray and setting it on the bed he thanked God that at least they hadn't forgotten to feed him in the midst of their revelry.

As he hopped up on the bed, he surveyed the tray's contents. Pheasant, fresh fruit and rye bread, the good kind most could only afford around Christmas time. He took a huge bite of the pheasant and wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve, he took a pull from the bottle of wine without bothering to pour it in the cup he had been given. Despite everything that was happening, he found he was quite hungry and of course one always thinks better on a full stomach anyway. Will ate all that he could hold and then some.

When he had finished he went back to the window and tried once again think clearly about the situation they were in. As he looked out over the town below he could see the chaos the rhymes were causing all over town. He still really couldn't accept what was happening even though he was seeing it with his own eyes. Will had always been the practical one and Jake was the bookworm with his nose in a book or his head in the clouds. He had spent his whole life watching after him, albeit begrudgingly and now he was out there on his own facing god knows what.

He began to worry about his brother, going out there all alone, facing the witch and breaking the spell over these people without him there to help even if he didn't really understand how all of this could be real. Given all he had seen lately, in the back of his mind he began to wonder if he hadn't spilled those beans, they might have actually worked. Will shook his head to clear it. Now he was getting as bad as his brother! No, there had to be a reasonable explanation for everything that happened. But whichever it was his brother understood it better than he ever could

Will thought back on how Jake had taken charge back in Marbaden, destroying the evil Queen and doing whatever it took to save his miserable life. Now he was about to do it again. He touched the spot on his chest again and felt the familiar chill. Will realized it wasn't a remnant from the Queen after all. It came from the growing realization the Jakob no longer needed him to baby-sit him, at least half of the time now anyway. His brother really could do this on his own without Will telling him what to do. He was having a difficult time accepting that as well.

Will leaned his hand against the one of the bars and looked out over the town as the late afternoon sun began to head towards the horizon. "I do have faith in you Jakob. I really do."

The one thing Will had accepted was the fact that this was going to be his home for the next thirty days. The noise from downstairs had begun to pick up and broke his train of thought once again. Will suddenly felt very tired and flopping down on the bed, he stuffed the pillow over his head to block out the noise. "Now if those bloody fiddlers would just shut up!"

**********

Jakob awoke with the first rays of the morning sun pouring directly into his face. 'Will has forgotten to close the bloody shutters again' he thought not immediately realizing where he was. Rolling over to retrieve his glasses from the night table, he noted something wasn't right with the way he felt. He hoped he wasn't catching cold again. Putting on his glasses, he looked around and realized where he was. "Right, not Marbaden", he mumbled to himself.

Yesterday's event's came back to him like the strong stream of sunlight flooding through the window of his room. With some urgency he sat up a bit too quickly in a rush to get the day started. "Ahh gaa!!" he moaned as he grabbed the sides of his head and fell back on the pillow. Trying in vain he couldn't remember much of the rest of the day after coming back from the castle. He vaguely remembered Katherine handing him a drink, but after that was all rather fuzzy.

He tried again, a bit more slowly this time and as his bare feet touched the floor he noticed he was undressed down to his long underwear. Looking around on the floor, he saw his clothes weren't scattered about as they should have been if he had undressed himself, but were instead neatly folded and lying on a chair, his boots tucked under the bed. His hope that it might have been Frederick was dashed by the fact of how neat the room appeared. Jakob felt horribly awkward as he wondered what else happened yesterday he couldn't remember and how would he walk out there and face the woman after all this.

After dressing he opened his door and peered out sheepishly into the other room. No one was there but Frederick so he slipped in, cleared his throat and closed the door behind him quietly.

"Good morning Jakob!" shouted Fred as he bounced over and slapped him on the back, "I see you've survived my friend!"

Jake thought he was going to pass out and wanted to kill Fred, but couldn't find the energy at the moment. He slumped down at the table with his head in his hands trying to make the thumping stop.

"Yes I have survived, however I don't remember what. Perhaps you can fill me in, quietly."

"Oh, you had a very good time indeed", Fred told him, "That is after you got past the argument with my sister. Something about Will as I recall?" Jakob winched. What could he have said, he wondered. "The rest of the evening was very entertaining I must say. You told some very exciting stories about you and your brother's adventures, but I must say the love poem you recited off the top of your head was the best! You really should write it down, but then again I suppose you don't remember that either. At any rate, Kate thought it best to put you to bed after that."

"Oh my", was all he could say, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh my, indeed!" Katherine had just come through the door with a basket of vegetables from the garden. "Don't worry; you were the paragon of virtue despite your rigorous consumption. Not that I expected anything else from someone like you."

Jakob looked at her crossly, 'What could she have meant by that?' he wondered. That would have to be a discussion for another time though. He had to start getting the supplies together for the trip. He fetched the list they had made two nights ago and with a few changes in mind, grabbed his satchel and pack and headed for the door.

"Nothing to say Herr Grimm?" Kate snapped as she headed out the back door for a pail of water letting the door slam behind her. The sound made Jake's ears ring and pouting, he went out the front.

Jakob was having a difficult time collecting the needed supplies for the trip. With the town going crazy all around him quite a few of his attempts led to dead ends.

One of his first stops was the butcher's. There wasn't much to be had there at the moment. The butcher's wife, a rather rotund woman with a ruddy round face and one tooth missing, explained that he ran off every afternoon to the baker's, wasting the rest of the day there until dark doing what, she didn't know. Jake bought some of what was left of the dried meat in the shop. As he went out the door one of the villager's bumped into him and snatching the package from his hands, ran off with it full tilt. There was no catching him as he disappeared into the crowd on the street. The butcher's wife felt sorry for Jake and gave him what little she had left. "A tall handsome man like you needs to keep his strength up", she twittered, flirting unmercifully. Jakob thanked her; this time putting the meat in his satchel to prevent losing it again and left quickly before she tried to go further.

Making his way through all the bizarre happenings of the town, he made his way to the baker's. Jakob found the shop locked. He thought of finding another shop, but was distracted by an uproarious, laughing crowd behind him. He could not believe what he saw in the center of the crowd. There in the fountain in the center of the town square were the butcher, the baker and the chandler floating in a rather large wooden tub, all drinking ale and singing songs. Some of the villagers in the crowd were hurling insults and trash at them, but there hardly seemed to notice.

Jakob didn't want to risk being out there for very much longer, so in desperation he went round the back of the shop. He poked around the large stone ovens, but found no loaves baking inside. As he came around the last oven, there in the corner sat a young lad with chubby cheeks. He was eating a rather large mince pie with his fingers. When he saw Jake, he jumped up and announced, "I'm a good boy, really I am. Honestly!" and he ran off out the side gate.

Jake made a mental note to write all this down later as he tried the back door of the shop. Finding it unlocked, he let himself in hoping to find bread and get back to Kate's. Upon finding two loaves of dark bread, he wrapped them carefully and this time put them in his pack before he left the shop. He didn't want them to be taken from him like the meat. He left a few coins on the counter as payment and left quickly making his way back out to the main street avoiding the crowd jeering the men in the tub.

He only had a short distance to go to Kate's when a lovely young girl with long blond curls, who was about 16 or so, confronted Jakob in the middle of the street. She smiled at him dreamily as if in a trance. Jakob knew he was in trouble, but didn't move, not knowing what was about to happen next. He got sudden goosebumps as she began to recite to him.

"Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Sugar is sweet

And so are you!"

The young girl grabbed him around the neck and kissed him on the lips. Jake began to panic and tried to pry her arms from around his neck and get rid of her, but she held on staring at him in the dreamy trance. A voice called behind him, "Gretel!" and the girl let go to see who it was. A young boy about the same age ran up to her and kissed her on the cheek. The girl immediately went to tears and yelled, sobbing, "Now you've ruined everything Georgy. I hate you!" The boy only laughed at her. A group of boys came out of a side street at that moment and one of them pointed and said, "There he is! Get him!" The boy took off up the street with the gang behind him in pursuit and the girl cheering them on. Jakob took this opportunity to slip away and head for Kate's as fast as he could.

As he reached the front door, he was nearly run down again by the same young boy with a pig under his arm that ran into him the day he and his brother first arrived in town.

Finally making it into the house exhausted, he dropped his pack on the table just to find the house was a complete mess and Frederick and Katherine were arguing.

"What is that you're packing now Frederick?"

"My sword, a small pot of grease and some holy water from the church."

"And what prey tell are you going to do with that?"

"When the old witch slips on the grease, I'll throw the holy water on her and then stab her in the heart. That should work, right Jakob?"

"Well, no it…'

"I should say not! That's ridiculous! It will never work, right Jakob?'

"Well, umm…"

"I know, how about the cross instead, that will keep her at bay until we can kill her!"

"I, err…"

"That's vampires, you idiot, not witches!"

"Jake, help me out here, man!"

Jakob just shook his head and gave up trying to say anything as Kate jumped back in. He turned and began filling the packs with what he knew they would need, but even that was of no use. Kate pushed her way in, "Oh your doing it all wrong you know", she said as she started rearranging things on the table. All the while Frederick was bouncing around the room coming up with ways to get rid of the witch and become the hero.

No matter what Jakob did, each time he turned around to get something else to pack he would find that Kate had unpacked the previous item and repacked it her to her liking.

"Please don't touch that…"

"It isn't right!"

"But it needs to be in this one!"

"It will work better in there!'

And so it went on with Jake and Kate fussing at each other and nothing getting done. Reaching his limit of utter frustration, Jakob gave up and strode out the back door into the garden leaving the woman to do as she pleased.

"Mein Gott im Himmel!! I'm saddled with an idiot and a shrew! What am I going to do?" he shouted as he raised his hands in to the air and looked skyward pleading for help. If it weren't for his brother, he would have walked out on them at this very moment with no regrets.

He let his arms fall in despair and hung his head. In the face of it all, saving his brother was all that really mattered and this was just the beginning. His mind began to race through all the trials he would have to face on this journey. The enchanted cottage, the captive maidens, a wicked witch to defeat in her castle, a Princess to be saved and god only knows what else along the way! Jakob's heart began to race with the excitement of it all! All the nonsense going on around him had made him lose sight of the reason he'd come here to start with. It was the story! Freeing Will, unfortunately, had now become part of that story making it even more intense! All the pieces had fallen into place and had suddenly come into clear focus. Taking a deep breath, he headed back towards the house, but stopped after a couple of steps. Returning to the spot where he had stood and raising his hands into the air, he looked skyward once again saying, "Thank you…just… thank you!" He turned on his heel and strode boldly back into the house.

He strode into the room with new found vigor. Grabbing Fred by his shoulders to get his full attention Jake sent him on a mission to get some drinking chocolate and then fetch some firewood. He was then to do nothing further except sit on the bench by the fire and make some up for them to drink. Jake pushed him out the front door with coin purse in hand. Frederick would do anything for Jake, so he gladly sped off.

Katherine was stunned by this sudden change in attitude. She was about to open her mouth to say something about it, when Jake gently took her by the upper arm, then sticking his finger in her face right at the end of her nose, he said, "You…Sit!" and pointed to a chair. Kate sat down and stared at him still stunned as Jake resumed packing in silence.

She tried to say something, but he pointed his finger at her with a stern look on his face and said "Ah!" She tried a couple of more times each with the same result. Kate finally gave up and sat in silence. She watched him for a while as she sat thinking and before he could cut her off again she blurted out, "I'm sorry!"

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry."

He looked at her wondering at the apology.

"I didn't mean to act the way I did. I don't know any other way to be. I've had to take care of my brother since our parents died some years ago. He lets his imagination overtake his reason sometimes and he's always going off on some flight of fancy. If I didn't keep after him, he would get into some kind of trouble or worse. I've always had to be the one in charge, the strong one."

Jake dropped the pack in his hand and took a step toward her. There was a strange familiarity in her words.

"All the other men in this town I've ever had to chance to meet are just as foolish, not one brain between them. You see most of the men in this town, my brother included unfortunately, are complete idiots and they couldn't change their socks without explicit instructions. If I didn't tell them what to do and how it's to be done, nothing would get accomplished. I've never met a man like you before Jakob. You're clever and smart, well educated and a gentleman. Even when you've have had a bit too much to drink."

He now realized what she'd meant by what she'd said that morning.

"You always know the right thing to do and then you do it without anyone having to hold your hand. Here I am just doing what I always do, trying to do everything for you and mistakenly treating you like all the rest of those lazy, pudding-headed fools because I didn't know what else I was supposed to do."

Jakob was taken aback by her honesty. He knelt down in front of her, his face pleading forgiveness.

"Oh, I'm sorry too Kate. I didn't hurt you earlier did I? I wasn't too rough with you was I?" He raised his hand rather awkwardly toward her arm where he had grabbed her earlier, but shyly pulled back before he touched her.

"No, no, not at all' she said reassuring him, "I'm fine." She looked into his eyes and smiled, "You're a strong man, Jakob Grimm. If anyone can do this I know you can. You will save your brother, I'm sure of it!"

Jake realized she has been holding his hand the whole time. He shyly looked back at her over the top of his glasses. If Will had been there he would probably called him a sotted moon calf or some other such embarrassing name, but he wasn't thinking about that or anything else for that matter. At that moment it felt like they are the only ones in the whole world. However, their moment was interrupted by a racket coming from the back door. It was Frederick with the chocolate and an arm load of firewood.

"Why don't you sit by the fire with your brother and help him", said Jakob softly, "It will be a long journey starting tomorrow and you'll need all the rest you can get, eh? I'll finish the packing and then we'll have the chocolate and some supper and turn in early, alright?"

Kate nodded and watched as he returned to the packing. After helping Frederick get started on the chocolate, she turned and watched Jakob pack, smiling at his turned back. Fred's fumbling drew her attention and she helped him put the kettle on the hearth.

Jakob watched Kate from the corner of his eye as she fussed at Fred and gave him instructions on how the bank the fire properly to get the kettle to boil. He sighed and relaxed a bit. The thought crossed his mind that he might not despise her so much after all.

They arose before dawn the next day. Jakob thought it was best to leave before all the chaos began in town that could delay their departure. They headed out of town with Frederick leading the way to the part of the forest where he and the Princess used to meet.

* * *

Please read and review. I'd love to know what you think.

Thanks to JakobG for the reviews! Prosit!!


	6. Lost in the Enchanted Forest

You see? Wilhelm was just fine once he started being his regular,cranky old self. Ha Ha! The one you should feel sorry for is poor Jakob. He was having an awful time getting stared on his journey, but as you will see. it will only get worse for him. You see, the old witch will discover him soon and she is going to make sure he and his companions are...

**Lost in the Enchanted Forest**

Near the edge of the kingdom sat a small, unassuming castle. Built in only what could be described as the shape of a high topped shoe with curving walls worn smooth by the elements and one large tower rising to its west, it looked old and uncared for many years. A wall once stood snaking its way around the outside to protect it from invaders, but it had long since fallen into ruins after a great battle had taken its toll. A small village of two dozen or so houses that once lay at the base of the mountain on which the castle sat had also fallen into ruin after it had been burned by the invading forces. The forest surrounding it still showed traces of the destruction even after so many years. Nothing seemed to want to grow there anymore and the dead trees reached their gnarled arms up to the sky as the dry, dead leaves tumbled along beneath in the lonely wisps of wind. The spirits of the long dead still walked there among those trees and the lone call of a raven sent a chill through the air.

Up in the tower the old witch slowly tottered along among the golden cages that hung from its ceiling. She went from cage to cage filling little golden cups with seed for each of the birds that they contained. All of the ninety-nine birds in her care were identical, snowy white with sky blue wingtips and each cooed a melancholy song.

At last she came to one cage that sat empty waiting for it's occupant to arrive. The old woman ran her fingers down the side of the empty cage almost lovingly as a wicked smile formed on her face. "Soon now your very last sister will come to join you and everything will be complete." The birds fluttered uneasily in their cages as if they knew what was to come.

Her grating voice grew louder as her fury also grew, "Then at midnight on the equinox I shall exact my revenge on those who turned their backs on me so long ago and nearly caused my end in this world! I shall plunge them into endless winter so that they will know what is like to freeze when they find their wood will not burn on the hearth and to starve looking for food where there is none. No crops will they grow and their livestock shall freeze! They shall suffer as I have suffered!"

The terrifying sound of her voice caused the birds to flutter around in their cages as they tried to fly away in fear, but to no avail. Seed scattered everywhere on the floor and feathers wafted down slowly around her feet as she strode across the room, her thirst for revenge growing.

"They will have to depend on me for their very survival, but only when I deem when they have earned it! At each full moon they will have to bring to me a fine, healthy young man, innocent and unspoiled, to grace my table and I will no longer need to hunt them myself. If they do not do as I command, then one of their precious young females shall perish!"

As she finished, she raised her hands into the air and thunder rumbled across the skies, a stiff and feted wind rushed in through the windows and stirred her skirts. Her long, spider web-like hair fluttered behind her as the smell of death and decay filled the room like the air that rushes from a freshly opened old and dusty tomb.

She began moving from window to window around the room surveying the kingdom that would soon be hers to do with as she pleased. She had woven herself a spell of great power and it enabled her to see many leagues with her unaided eyes. This way she could see every corner of the land and nothing was hidden from her. Every rescuer was quickly found out and dispatched to her pleasure. No one escaped her gaze. So far she had spied no one and she was pleased that her rhyming spell was working so well. Each of the King's subjects was trapped in their own chaotic little corner of the kingdom.

As she looked over the King's castle, her eye fell upon Wilhelm as he gazed out the tower window looking melancholy and trying to take in as much fresh air and sunlight as he could under the circumstances.

"Why haven't I seen this one before?" she said, her eyes gleaming with desire. "Oh my what a handsome one he is; healthy and strong too. Too bad he is spoiled goods though. He would have been delicious! It seems a shame to let him die though. Perhaps I shall find a place for him as keeper of my flock since he is so enamored of females and he shall remain in that tower forever attending my birds as I sit upon the King's throne below!"

Her dream of sitting as Queen of the kingdom with her handsome consort at her side was interrupted when her eye fell upon three figures making their way through the forest not far from the tower where she had seen Will. This gave her some cause for concern.

"Three intruders in my enchanted wood?" she said aloud to herself, "I shall have to keep my sharp eyes on these three and put a stop to this nonsense!" Looking over Frederick her plans for them began to fall into place. "That one is nearly perfect for my needs. He shall make a wonderful main course for my equinox feast!" she declared. "Oh, and the girl appears fresh and unspoiled as well. Lovely! I believe I have found your missing sister", she announced to the caged birds causing them to flap around in panic; stirring up more seed and feathers, scattering it about the room. However, she frowned as her gaze fell upon Jakob. There was something about this one that made a chill pass over her.

"That one is trouble! He seems to be the leader of this little expedition and a born troublemaker, I can sense it! Too bad he will have to die. He's tall, strong and has good meat on his bones, but I dare not risk bringing him here even under the best of spells! It doesn't seem like he could be held very long, he's smart, that one. I can see he isn't like those other simple village fools. He thinks he's well prepared and doesn't fear me, but he shall. Oh he shall!"

As she watched the little band hike through the forest in the early morning sun, something else about them began to trouble her. "Ach no! It appears that if I wish to keep the girl pure enough for my intent and not have to waste time hunting another, I shall have to separate her from the troublemaker soon. For if I do not, in due time, she will let him have what he desires!"

Turning quickly from the window and heading for her work chamber, she began to formulate a plan to put an end to this merry band of travelers once and for all.

************

Jakob, Katherine and Frederick had been hiking through the woods for what seemed like hours with Fred leading the way. Jakob was beginning to think it was a bad idea to let Fred have the lead given his propensity for getting off subject.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" asked Jakob looking dubious about their path.

"Why yes", said Frederick confidently, "I'm sure of it. I've been going there at least twice a week for most of my life."

At this point Jake had little choice but to believe him. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they came to the stretch of pine trees where Frederick and the Princess always met. After finding nothing really amiss, Jakob made it clear he was most interested in the cottage where the Princess was taken.

"What direction did you take when you awoke in the morning that led you to the cottage?"

"I'm not really to sure about that one I'm afraid."

Jakob was making a few notes in his journal and without bothering to look up said, "You must remember Fred. It's very important. If I can see the cottage it might give me some clue as to what we're up against and where she was taken."

Fred looked around to get his bearings and then pointed to a protected place under a low hanging pine. "Ah, there! That's where we fell asleep after I spoke that stupid rhyme. The Princess looked so beautiful in the rays of the setting sun", he said wistfully.

"Frederick, focus!" chided Jake as he snapped his book shut and stared at him.

"Ah yes, wait". He said and trotting over, he lay down under the tree and shut his eyes. Jakob looked quizzically at Kate, but she only shrugged. After a few moments Fred sat up and opened his eyes, "That way", he said pointing to his left, "We got up and started running that way." He paused and frowned, "I think."

Being a bit doubtful of Fred's methods, Jake came up with a quick plan.

"Alright, we'll go off that way for a few dozen meters and see if anything looks familiar to you. If it doesn't feel right we'll come straight back here and try another direction. Agreed?'

Kate, also doubtful of her brother's directions despite his objections that he was right, agreed to Jakob's plan. It turned out to be a good idea given the fact that after a few false starts, each time with Frederick being sure it was the right way then finding it was not, they finally found themselves going in the right direction. This time Fred swore this was the right way after identifying more and more landmarks that lead them deeper into the wood.

"See, I told you this was the right way", Frederick prattled on as he walked backward facing them, "All you had to do was listen to me and trust me, but could you do that? No and now we are finally on our way, which we would have been before if you had only…"

Stepping backward between two red currant bushes, Fred promptly disappeared from sight letting out a short yelp. A few seconds later there was a sharp thump. Kate and Jake stopped dead and stood there, listening and waiting, but he was not to be seen or heard. Just the sound of the birds chirping and the wind rustling the colorful fall leaves.

"Frederick?" called Kate.

"Fred where are you?" called Jakob.

Not getting a response they both ran to the currant bushes only to find that they were growing on the edge of a steep embankment. They surveyed the clumps of bushes and weeds below, but still no Frederick. Jakob scratched the back of head looking bewildered. An arm came up through the underbrush below and waved at them.

"I'm alright!" called Fred weakly from down below.

Kate just shook her head and looked at Jakob with annoyance, "Yes, he's an idiot."

Jakob put his hands on his hips and sighed loudly, "Let's go fetch him."

They made their way down the embankment and at the bottom found Fred brushing himself off, "I'm fine. A little thing like that doesn't deter a hero from his quest. It would take something much bigger to stop me!"

"Fred", said Jakob sharply to make him focus, "Have you ever been here before? Does this at all look familiar?"

Fred nodded his head vigorously in a very positive way and then said matter-of-factly, "No."

"Let's go", said Jakob flatly as they made their way back up and continued on for a while longer. As the sun worked its way towards the horizon, they found a rather suitable place to make camp for the night. Jakob went about gathering what he needed to start a fire. Because they were traveling higher into the mountains, the evening air was taking on a noticeable chill and he knew the farther they went and the longer it went into the season, the colder the days and nights would become. The higher mountain peaks were already starting to gather snow on their tops.

*************

The old witch watched as the weary travelers settled down in their campsite. She ran her bony fingers back and forth over her chin a few times, deciding it was time to start putting her plans for them in motion.

"I think it's time for you to totally lose your way my little troublemaker, then while you're busy trying to save everyone, I shall take away the object of your affections and leave you there lost on the woods to die of a broken heart!"

After a few moments of thought she hit upon the perfect rhyme for the occasion.

"Little Miss Muffet

sat on her tuffet

eating her curds and whey.

When along came a spider

that sat down beside her

and frightened Miss Muffet away!"

*************

An old gnarled tree stump sat but a few meters from where Jakob was trying to build the fire. From a large rotting hole between two twisted tree roots came a large, hairy Wolf spider the size of tea saucer. It was followed by three more, and then several more crawled out as the first spider made its way towards the campsite. Soon there were dozens of them moving in a wave, crawling over the leaves, sticks and rocks on the forest floor, yet making no sound as they went.

Katherine was sitting on a tree stump massaging her left ankle. When she switched to her right, a spider came riding up clinging to the toe of her boot. It stared at her with black, beady eyes for a few seconds before she shrieked and kicked the spider across the clearing. Holding up her skirts, she danced around on her tiptoes. "Yah spider!" she said sounding disgusted.

Jakob paused from his task for a moment and looked up laughing at her, "Come on, toughen up woman. It's only a little…spider?"

Kate was now surrounded by dozens of large, hairy spiders. She jumped up on the stump shrieking and dancing on the ends of her toes. Jake stood up and headed for her after grabbing a long, burning log from the fire, when he discovered he was cut off from her by a few dozen spiders of his own. He waved the log around his feet hoping the fire would back them off, but it did no good.

Frederick had just come back with an armload of apples, munching on one as he walked when he tried to make out the bizarre behavior of his companions.

"Well what are you two on about?" he asked. Something felt wrong and he looked down at his boots. They were covered in spiders. "Saints in hell!" he swore as he dropped the apples and began stomping spiders right and left.

There were now hundreds of them crawling over the campsite and as Jake and Fred continued to stomp and fling them away, Kate stood shrieking on the stump. It was now covered in spiders and they were flooding up her boots and covering the ends of her skirt. She froze in fear as they began to crawl up her skirt and were headed for her waist quickly. In shear terror, she screamed.

Fred and Jake stopped stomping and looked up, both seeing her at the same time. They headed for her from opposite directions, Jakob reaching her first. He grabbed her around the waist and dragging her off and away from the infested stump, he knocked spiders off her arms and bodice, but there were just too many.

"Take her dress off!" yelled Frederick.

Jakob's fingers moved fast as he flipped down the buttons running down her back. Frederick stripped the top of the dress off and pulled down as Jake lifted her up and out of the skirt. Jakob leaned over and grabbing her around the waist, he picked her up over his shoulder and ran off into the woods and away from the spiders, grabbing two of the packs in the process.

Frederick gave her dress a sharp snap and spiders flew everywhere. After another sound snap making sure he had gotten them all off he threw the dress over his shoulder and headed after them, grabbing the last pack on the way out. They ran through the woods with the wave of fast moving spiders right behind them. It looked as if the whole forest floor was moving.

Making their way running through the trees, they came to a wide stream winding through the woods. The banks were steep and the water appeared very deep making crossing it seem nearly impossible, but they knew they had no choice but to get across. There was no going back or around.

"There!" shouted Frederick as he spied a log lying across the stream stretching from bank to bank a few meters upstream and he ran for it with Jake on his heels still toting Kate over his shoulder.

"I can't make that with Kate and the packs!" shouted Jakob as he put Kate down. "Here, take the packs and help your sister across. I'll stay here and keep them back for as long as I can!" Fred and Kate start to protest, but Jake will have none of it, "No, just go!"

The log was moss covered and very wet and slippery. They barely made it across moving slowly sideways while trying to keep their footing and balance the packs at the same time. Jakob meanwhile was trying to stomp on a many spiders at the leading edge of the swarm as he could.

Jakob saw that they had made it across. After a few more stomps he ran for the log hoping to get across before it was too late. Alas, half way across his foot slipped. Jake fell hard, banging his chin on the log on the way down. He was now dangling, hanging on with the log wedged under his armpits, the moss and dampness making his grip precarious. Fortunately the spiders had stopped and were milling about as if they were trying to figure out their next move. Seconds later the spiders began to file slowly onto the log two at a time and head straight for Jakob's face.

Jake tried to struggle to get back up on the log, but the slippery moss prevented him from getting a good grip.

"Stay there Jake!" yelled Fred as he slowly made his way across to him. Grabbing Jakob by the back of the shirt and suspenders then by the back of his pants, he pulled him back up onto the log and helped him across.

Once safely on the other side, Jakob gave the log a good kick with the heel of his boot. It moved a good ways but didn't fall. The spiders kept coming, now half covering the log and crawling over each other in an effort to cross. Jake gave the log another good kick and it went down into the deep stream with a resounding splash. They watched as the spiders from the log floated away. The others on the far shore milled about in confusion now having no way to cross the stream. Jake thought it best to put some distance between them and the spiders in case they found another way across, so they took off through the woods only stopping when they felt they were safely far enough away.

Coming to a clearing they all flopped down on the ground to finally catch their breath.

"Oh, thank heavens!" said Katherine sounding relieved. "Frederick, you were so brave. Thank you for rescuing me." She hugged him tightly around the neck.

"Well, your welcome, but it was Jakob that did most of the rescuing", Fred explained, "If it weren't for him holding them back for us and thinking to kick the log over we would still be up to our neck in spiders."

Jake pulled himself up off the ground, sat on a large log and ran his fingers through his hair, "You did just as much rescuing as I did Frederick and more." He said humbly.

Kate went to Jakob, hugged him tenderly and whispered in his ear, "Thank you". However as she held him in her arms a lone spider crawled up Jake's back and came to a stop on the back of her hand staring at her with beady, black eyes. Kate shrieked at the top of her lungs nearly deafening Jake in one ear as she flung her arm away tossing the spider into the air. In a reflex, she shoved Jakob hard with her other hand sending him ass-over-teakettle backward off the log he was sitting on. As the spider hit the ground there was a poof of mist and in its place laid a large, golden leaf.

"Huh, well what do you know about that?" said Frederick sounding unfazed.

Jakob crawled his way up onto the log and resting on his elbows he readjusted his glasses, trying to focus and figure out what in the devil just happened. As he stared and tried to focus in on Kate, she realized she was standing there in the middle of the woods in her pantaloons and camisole and he was staring right at her! "Oh!" she yelped and tried to cover herself with her arms while she looked around for her dress. She snapped it up from its place on the ground next to her brother and held it up in front of her in an effort to cover herself up.

"How dare you!" she snapped at Jake, "I see the way you're leering at me! I guess I was wrong about your being different! All men are pigs!"

With that she ran off behind a large tree to get dressed. Jakob was totally bewildered at what had just happened. He looked at Fred questioningly, "What she on about?" Frederick just shrugged back.

Exhaustion and hunger had set in, so Jakob decided that this was as good a place as any to make camp for the night. Mostly due to the fact the sun was now hugging the horizon and it would be dark very soon. Frederick took first watch to keep the fire going and look out for spiders or anything else that might come after them while they slept as a cold, crisp fall night set in.

* * *

As you can see, I'm going to put Jakob through his paces in this story. It's not going to be as easy as he imagined back in Marbaden and Will isn't going to get off all that easily either. Please read and review this story. I would really like to know what you think. Good or bad. Thanks.


	7. A Cold Night, Hot Chocolate and Will

Now wasn't that something? That old witch was trying her best to scare Jakob, but as you can see, he's very brave isn't he? Frederick was being very brave as well. Alright then, now that we've had a bit of supper shall we continue? Good, Good, then gather round and get comfortable. Well, then, I suppose I should catch us up a bit so I will tell you about what happened the next day. I'll start with...

**A Cold Night, Hot Chocolate and Will**

Jakob had spent his watch sitting by the fire wrapped in his blanket and recording the previous day's events in his journal. He took care in the details so that when this was over he could tell Will everything that had happened without missing a single thing. His spirit was bolstered by the thought of telling his brother everything that had happened on the way to freeing him from the tower. As the moon set he decided that the night had been quiet enough that waking Fred for the next watch was really unnecessary. Besides, Frederick was snoring so loudly it would have scared off just about anything.

Jakob had built up the fire so it would continue to burn warmly for quite a while and settled down beside it to sleep. As his eyes were closing, he looked over at Katherine. Despite how upset she had been earlier, she was now sleeping peacefully and he couldn't help but think how pretty she looked in the firelight. The golden flames softened her features nicely. He had seen a different side of her today. This woman who could be loud, pushy always in charge of every little thing almost to the point of being arrogant about her inner strength was vulnerable after all. She had acted like she never needed anyone, but she needed someone else's help today and was grateful for receiving it. 'In many ways she is just like my brother, but there is a marked difference between her and Will.' he thought, 'He was never grateful or said thank you. It was always just expected no matter what it was.'

He knew there was a softer, more feminine side to her in there somewhere and if he just had the patience to wait he would find it. 'Perhaps all she needs is for someone to treat her a bit more that way.' he thought.

As he began drifting off, his thoughts turned to the spiders. After writing it all down in his journal he realized that they weren't sent to harm them in any way, but to drive them deeper into the forest and help them lose their way. They had done their job well for at this point Jakob had no idea where they were or which direction they should take to find the cottage or the castle. He supposed he would have a better idea in the morning when it was daylight.

*********

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, painting an orange sherbet streak across the pale blue sky when Jakob awoke. It had been a very chilly night and it felt warm and cozy under the blanket even though the fire had died down. He thought they should be on their way soon and he really should built up the fire a bit for some chocolate to warm them up inside, but he just couldn't make himself move from this much too comfortable spot on his bed of leaves.

After a few more moments of procrastinating he pushed himself to brave the cold and get moving. However, when he tried to sit up, he found something was holding him down tightly around the waist. He swallowed hard as he remembered the enchanted trees in the forest of Marbaden and he was praying this wasn't a repeat performance.

Jakob carefully reached up and fished his glasses out of the dry, brown leaves and slowly put them on being careful not to disturb whatever it was that had hold of him. Slightly shaking and trying not to panic, he reached down and slowly lifted the blanket to look underneath. Shear terror shot through him as he saw it was a human arm wrapped around his waist. He was about to scream bloody murder at Frederick to come help him, but something looked familiar about the arm. He recognized the brown sleeve capped with lace that the arm was sticking out of.

'Oh thank God' he thought as he began to relax, 'it's only Kate.'

Jakob was so relieved it wasn't something trying to kill him or eat him alive that he lay back down under the blanket and closed his eyes rationalizing a few more minutes of sleep couldn't hurt. After all it was very warm and comfortable there.

His eyes snapped open in panic, but this time it was of a different kind. 'Only Kate? Only Kate! Oh Sweet Christ! Jakob, what were you thinking?!' he thought as he tried to figure out a way to out of this without waking her up. Gingerly picking up her arm, he slid out from under the blanket very slowly and carefully put it back down making sure she was still covered so the morning chill didn't wake her. Scooting backward a few feet towards the fire and away from her, he sat there with his arms wrapped around his long legs and chewed on the end of his thumb. His cheeks were beet red and he felt thoroughly embarrassed and confused.

He wondered how she ended up there snuggled against his back. How long had she been there? 'Well it had been a bit cold last night or maybe she was still upset over the spiders', he thought as he tried in vain to justify her sleeping with him. 'But why not sleep near her brother? That would have made more sense. Why me?' he wondered. He stopped chewing his thumb and looked at her with a shy puppy dog look, 'She couldn't really like me…could she?' he wondered. He thought about it for a few moments and then shook his head, completely dismissing the thought from his mind. 'Don't be an idiot Jakob', he told himself, 'Your reading far too much into this. She was just cold or frightened…or something. Oh I don't know, just forget it!'

Jakob tried to pass the whole thing off and hoped she wouldn't remember or mention it at all. He would record this morning in his journal later, but this little detail would not be repeated to Will when he told the story. The last thing he needed to hear was how many different kinds of fool he was after waking to find a woman in his bed and then running from her.

He busied himself with the fire and the chocolate to warm them up before they moved on. Feeling a presence beside him and seeing the edge of his blanket out of the corner of his eye, he knew Kate was there wrapped in it, but he didn't look at her.

"Morning", she said quietly.

"Good morning", he replied, trying to sound aloof.

After a couple of tense moments of silence Kate asked, "Did you sleep well?"

"Um..yes...well…and you?"

"Oh yes, very well. Thank you. Must have been the fresh air out here. It was very…um…nice."

"Oh yes indeed", Jakob cleared his throat and fussed with the chocolate pot, "very nice."

Jakob was feeling so very awkward and the strained conversation wasn't making it any better. He felt like a hare that knew a hunter was near and he was ready to bolt off into the woods at a moments notice.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" she asked quietly.

"Um..well..yes. My brother has complained about it many times. I'm sorry if I woke you."

"You needn't be. My brother does it sometimes as well. Its just…well, you seemed to be having a horrible nightmare."

Jake thought for a few moments, but couldn't remember having one. Then again it hadn't woken him up so why would he. "Hm", was all he said, it didn't matter really and he thought the conversation was over, but Kate continued.

"At first you were warning Will not to throw things at a giant because it would only make him mad, but then you were begging him to 'stay away from her or you'll be sorry'. That's when you became very upset and called my name a couple of times. When I went to see what was wrong I found you were still asleep."

'Was I dreaming about the time I saw Will with Angelika?' he thought, 'No, that was very long ago and anyway, why would I be calling out for…' It all suddenly made sense and he realized now how she had ended up next to him. Jake jumped up to face her with his hands outstretched and an innocently pleading face.

"Kate I…well you see... it was only a dream and…no, please, really…Ah, well you know I…" He was fumbling his words as his hands went in all directions and he was practically tripping over his own feet.

Katherine watched with a bemused look on her face as this poor, shy and innocent man tried to explain something to her that really didn't need any explanation at all.

Thankfully the entire disturbingly awkward moment was cut off by Frederick. He was awake and peppier that anyone had the right to be so early in the morning. He prattled on and on about how well he had slept; how good the chocolate smelled; how this was going to be a very productive day, he just knew it and so on and so on. Jakob had never been so grateful to have to listen to Fred's nonsense as he was right now.

*********

Will had only been in the tower for a few days now, but it seemed like forever. He had started keeping track by marking the stone wall near the window with a small piece of chalky stone he had found in a corner. He never thought he would ever say it, but he was actually getting sick of all the rich food they were bringing him and if he heard "Ode to Thee in G Minor" one more time he would go insane! Seriously, at this point he was calling his sanity into question anyway.

Lying on the bed counting the cracks in the ceiling for the hundredth time he listened as the party downstairs went on into the late afternoon and wondered just how much more of the boredom he could take. Rolling off the bed he went to the window and leaning on the bars he watched as the craziness in the town below played out. He had seen each rhyme so often now that he could run down the list in his head and thought that he would tell them all to Jakob when he returned. 'Perhaps they might make good story material', he thought, 'He would love that.' Clinging to the thought of telling his brother all he had seen when this was over made a bad situation much more bearable in his mind.

'That is, if it's ever over', he thought. There was a very real possibility he could die in here. After all, the way he treated Jake when they took him away, why would he even bother coming back for him anyway? Will hung his head and began feeling sorry for himself. He couldn't help thinking that maybe he did deserve this after all that he had done. He couldn't count how many times over the previous months Angelika had lectured him about his behavior especially towards his own brother. The woman did have the annoying habit of always saying what she thought and even worse, always being right.

Will was beginning to feel angry, angry at Angelika for being right, at Jakob for talking him into this mess, at the King for trapping and throwing him into the tower. While he was busy being angry at everyone else, deep inside, he was really angry at himself. Angry that he mocked his brother so when they took him away, that he had trouble trusting Jakob to know what he was doing, that he wasn't doing anything to try and escape and help his brother. That is if he really even wanted his help and he couldn't blame him if he didn't.

Will looked up and out the window. Tears were filling his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Angrily he yelled out the window, "Dammit Jake! Don't die out there!" Anger began to slowly turn to resolve, He had to get out of there and it had to be now. His own life be damned, his brother needed him and he wasn't about to let him down. Not again.

Will started working on the window bars. If he did manage to get one loose, he would work on getting down later. "One step at a time Wilhelm", he told himself. Regrettably the bars were stuck solid into the stone above and below. Standing there with his hands on his hips, he sighed. Then running one hand through his hair and looking around the room deciding what to do next, his eye fell on the door. With a critical eye he began examining the door, lock and hinges looking for any flaws or weaknesses he could find.

"Tools, I need tools", he said, "but where…" An idea struck him. Going over to the food tray that sat on the small bed side table, Will fished out the knife and fork. "Well, well, look at this!" he chirped beginning to feel a bit like his old cocky self, "Courtesy of the dimwits in the castle kitchen!" A wide smile spread across his face. Grabbing an apple from the tray, he took a big bite and set to work on the lock and hinges to try and see if he could pry something loose.

Will knew that he would have to escape sometime in that one hour timeframe so as not to get caught at banquet. It was going to be very tricky getting out without being seen, but then again, tricky was his middle name.

* * *

This is a bit of a short chapter to just set things up for what is to come. The next chapter will be much longer as it involves Katherine and Jakob in a very sticky predicament.

Please read ans review. I would like to hear from you, so tell me what you think so far. Thanks.


	8. Pease Porridge Hot!

Well, it seems the Wilhelm has finally started working on getting out of the tower is earnest, eh? Oh, don't worry, you will find out what happens to him a bit later. Now, if you think Jakob and his friends were in trouble with all those spiders, just wait until I tell about what the old witch has in store for them next! The days may be becoming colder, but as you will see, they will have no trouble keeping the...

**Pease Porridge Hot!**

The next few days proved to be unproductive. The trio wandered through the forest trying to find their way either to the cottage, the castle or home, but it was starting to look like a lost cause. Jake and Kate had to rescue Frederick from himself more than a few times. He always seemed to be falling over, into or off of something even though they were walking a fairly straight and safe path through the woods. In between rescues, Jakob and Katherine were getting to know each other a bit better. They chattered on about all sorts of things; their past, their daily lives and their families.

At night Jakob would read them the stories he had written in his journal by the firelight. Sometimes Kate would sit near him and read silently over his shoulder as he told the story, but her interest wasn't the story itself, but the other bits in between, the footnotes and little things he scribbled in the margins. Things that Jakob had never meant anyone else to read. Oddly he kept the book away from Fred, but it seemed he didn't mind her reading his private notes and thoughts except for one. He called the story "The Sleeping Princess" and he guarded the book fiercely when he told it. All she could catch was a name written in the margin near the description of the Princess. It read "Lottie" with a bracket around the description. She decided it was best just to leave it alone and if he wanted to tell her someday he would.

On the morning of the fifth day they spotted smoke rising over the trees and made for it. It turned out to be from a small village slightly smaller than Marbaden nestled between two rolling hills. Finally they would be able to find out where they were and how far off the trail they had really gone. Jakob had started to become worried about all the wasted time as the thirty days was quickly passing.

There was a small inn in the village with four small rooms, so they knew they couldn't be too far off the beaten path to somewhere.

"I'm sure the innkeeper can give us proper directions", said Jakob sounding confident.

"A hot meal and a soft bed for the night couldn't hurt much either", whined Frederick, "I'm tired of sleeping in the woods."

"Agreed", added Katherine.

'Some hero on a quest he turned out to be', thought Jake.

They took two rooms at the inn, Kate in one room, Jakob and Frederick in the other. They spent the day talking to the townsfolk and refurbishing their supplies. When the innkeeper's wife found out she had Jakob Grimm, the "Hero of Marbaben" at her table that night at dinner, she overfed them quite a bit and then refused to take payment for the meal, despite her husband's and Jake's protests to the contrary.

As they settled in for the night, Jakob discovered he would have to share a bed with Frederick. As he laid there he found that he was missing Kate's being there. He had grown used to watching her fall asleep by the firelight. Jakob thought back to the night she had slept snuggled up against his back. It wasn't all that bad really and he could get used to that as well. He was also feeling a bit foolish for running from her the way he did. 'Will is right, I am an idiot!' he thought. Fred began snoring loudly beside him, breaking his mood and he fell asleep feeling exhausted and disgruntled.

The next morning they went about getting directions from the innkeeper and gathering more information from the townsfolk about the witch and her whereabouts. It seems that they were a long way off from Frederick and Katherine's town, they had been moving away from it the whole time. This also meant a long way off from the cottage as well, although due to the type of magic the witch was using, Jakob suspected the cottage never existed at all.

The innkeeper told them to go and see Frau Holunder, an old and rather rotund woman with a round face, pleasant smile and no teeth. Her nephew traveled quite a bit and if anyone had heard any news about the location of the witch's castle, it would be her. When Jakob knocked on her door, she greeted them with a wide toothless grin.

"Come in children, come in!" she said merrily, "I don't get many visitors. Please come in and sit down. Would you like some nice hot porridge dears, it's good for you?"

The three of them came in and sat down, but politely declined her offer. Jakob told her what they knew and asked if she had ever heard of such a place as the castle they sought.

"Oh my yes, I do believe I have", she began as she stirred the porridge pot on the hearth, "My nephew Deter goes to Bad Kissingen for the mineral baths four or five times a year and he passes by a place that just might be the one your looking for. It's in a desolate place that no one every goes near if they can avoid it. Deter has little choice because the road that passes by there is the shortest route. Most of the people that live near there call it the Castle of the Birds though I don't know why. Are you sure about the porridge then?"

"Oh yes, thank you no", said Jakob shaking his head, "Could you tell me how far it is and in which direction it would be?"

"Why of course dear. It's no more that five days away due east."

Jakob thanked her and was about to take his leave, but the Frau insisted they stay. She didn't get much company and she was disappointed to see three such lovely young people leave. Jake was worried about the time it would take them to get to the castle and even if they immediately freed the Princess, he worried they may not be able to get back to the King in time to save Will. Never-the-less he relented to stay for just a bit longer to make the old woman happy.

*********

The evil witch surveyed the kingdom from her tower window once again. She kept a close eye on the trio of travelers as she plotted the next step in her plan. She had driven them right where she needed them to be and it was now time to cage her last bird.

"Its time to break up this little band and complete my spell", she said gleefully, "as soon as they leave the village I will set them on their various ways."

She watched them carefully as they went about the town and then finally ended up at the old Frau's cottage. "Oh this will not do", she said as her anger began to grow, "I see my little troublemaker as taken a real liking to the girl and she to him as well. I can see by the way they are mooning over each other. I should have taken the chance and separated them sooner, but in my haste to drive them deeper into the forest it seems that I have pushed them closer together. Bah!"

She angrily paced around the room making the birds flap around in their cages and fuss. "He is quickly becoming a real threat to the girl's purity", she ranted, "If that one takes a notion in his head to bed her, it will force me to seek out another girl and delay my plans and that is something I can ill afford!"

The old witch had no way of knowing that Jakob, unlike his brother Wilhelm who had little restraint in such matters, would never do such a thing on just an idle whim. "Perhaps I need to hurry them along out of that village and into my trap!" She was sure she knew just how to do it, "and if I am lucky, my little troublemaker will be out of the way permanently!"

*********

Jakob, Frederick and Katherine sat around the old Frau's table listening to her prattle on about her nephew. Jakob was trying to think of some polite way of getting out of there and on the road. He was getting antsy about how quickly time was passing away. As he was about to say something, the old Frau insisted they stay and have tea before they went on their way. As she went out the door to fetch some water for the kettle, she asked Kate to stir the porridge pot for her so the bottom wouldn't burn. She agreed and began to stir the pot with a large wooden spoon.

Without warning Katherine began to recite loudly, "Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold!" Desperately she tried to stops stirring, but she couldn't nor could she pull the spoon from the cast iron pot hanging on the hearth, her hand stuck fast to the spoon. All she could do was turn her head to look at Jakob, her face pale and sweaty, panic welling up her eyes. She couldn't stop now that it had begun, "Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old!"

Frederick and Jakob looked at each other and then back at Kate as their eyes grew wide with the realization of what was happening. "Kate no!" shouted Jake as he bolted up from his chair and headed for her. All she could do was shake her head at him to let him know she couldn't stop; her eyes begging him to help her, frightened of what will happen if she finishes the rhyme. As he came up behind her, Jakob wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and with the other hand he grasped the wrist of the hand holding the spoon. Try as he might he couldn't pull her away from the hearth, nor could he pull her hand holding the spoon out and away from the pot. He might as well have been trying to pull down a stone wall with his bare hands.

All the while she kept reciting, stirring the porridge steadily "Some like it hot, some like it cold!"

"Have to stop the rhyme", thought Jakob desperately, "Have to stop it!"

"Pease porridge in the pot!" In a fit of desperation; still holding her tightly around the waist, Jakob let go of her wrist and clamped his hand over her mouth. Kate stopped and looked over at Fred with a rather doubtful look in her eyes. It had done no good for as she squeezed her eyes shut, muffled through his fingers she said the final words, "Nine days old!"

Frederick stood stock still, his fists balled up so tightly his knuckles were turning white and Jakob stood behind Katherine holding her tightly against him afraid to let her go, with his eyes closed as well. Kate could feel his heart racing against her back as he held her close.

After several minutes, nothing happened. Jake opened one eye and looked around, then the other, 'Huh, It couldn't have be that easy', he thought, 'Just keeping her mouth shut?' He let go of the grip he had on her mouth and as he thought this over and waited to see if anything would really happen, he let his hand wander over to her shoulder, in effect wrapping both arms around her tightly. A few more minutes passed and still nothing. Jakob let out a sigh of relief as did Kate and Frederick.

"Oh…Oh!" Jake realized he was still holding Katherine tightly in his arms. He let go of her suddenly and jumped back, putting his hands up in front of him as if to show her he meant no harm.

"Oh, I am so sorry" stammered Jake, his face begging forgiveness and his hands going in all directions, "I wasn't trying to…I mean I was only…the rhyme, it was…I couldn't think of any other way to stop it and I didn't mean…"

At the same time Katherine was stammering back at him, waving her hands around trying to show him it was alright. "Oh, I know you didn't…It's alright, I know you didn't mean…the rhyme was just…you were just helping and I…You…"

In the middle of all this confusion, a rather large bubble was growing on the top of the porridge pot and it burst with a very loud "burp". Everyone snapped to attention and stared at the pot. No one moved in the dead stillness of the room for several seconds. It appeared that it was just a fluke and they were all getting nervous for nothing; however their relief was short lived. Another large bubble came to the top of the pot and after expanding to a very good size burst once again with a loud "burp", but this time it continued to bubble and green porridge began to ooze over the edge of the pot onto the hearth, making the fire spit, sizzle and go out. A small flood of porridge ran down off the hearth and spread out onto the floor as the pot continued to rapidly bubble and spit it contents over the top like a small volcano. Jakob turned a bit pale at the sight and looking at Fred said quietly, "Run."

Without being told twice, Frederick bolted out the door with Jake and Kate right behind him. A now ankle deep flood of green porridge followed, pouring out the door right behind them. The trio ran down the dirt road that cut through the center of the town running as fast as they could. A few seconds later a deluge of porridge came exploding out the door of the cottage like a tidal wave with a roar. The townspeople seeing this huge, fast flowing wall of pea green porridge ran screaming in every direction to escape, emptying out the village.

The green ooze was now hip deep and coming fast. It spread out between the little houses and into the woods beyond. Frederick cut to his left at the first opportunity and ran off into the forest, hopping over logs and bushes to make his escape. Jake and Kate had lost sight of him as they ran straight out of the village and into the woods, dodging tree limbs and underbrush in an effort to outrun the wall of warm, green lava-like ooze roaring up behind them.

Their escape route was cut off however, by a steep drop off. A river that ran near the village had recently flooded its banks after some heavy rains and had begun to recede leaving a mucky, swampy stretch at the bottom of the drop. Jakob saw they had nowhere to go, so thinking quickly, he grabbed onto a good sized sapling, wrapping his legs and arm around it. With the other arm he grabbed onto Katherine holding onto her tightly and braced himself against the impact of the porridge tidal wave that was about to hit. The now six foot high wall of ooze slammed into them and poured over the drop in a huge rush and filled the swamp below making a disgusting glorping sound as it landed.

*********

The old witch smiled with delight at the sight. "Now all you need is just a little more help to make it to your final resting place, my little troublemaker!"

"Jack and Jill went up the hill

to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after"

She laughed gleefully as she waved her hand and turned from the window thinking Jakob dead and her plan could now be finished.

*********

As the wall of ooze receded, Jake asked, "Are you alright?", but before Katherine could answer Jakob somehow lost his footing on the edge of the drop off and his grip on the tree and Kate at the same time. It felt like he had been forcefully ripped away from them and he slid backwards down the steep drop on his back heading quickly for the porridge filled swamp. Kate leaned forward grabbing at him trying to stop his fall, but slipped in the oozy mud and landed on her stomach, sliding down the drop right behind him. Jake landed in the mucky mess on his back and immediately went completely under, disappearing from sight. "Jakob!" screamed Kate as slid down hill and landed face first in the muck.

She sat up completely covered in green and black muck. She realized she was sitting right on top of Jake and tried to feel around with her hands to find him, but could find nothing but mud. "Jakob!" she screamed again desperately trying to find him in the depths of the swamp. Tears began to fill her eyes as she felt her way around. She sat back in despair as the tears fell leaving clean streaks on her muddy cheeks, "Oh Jakob, no!"

After what seemed like an eternity, Jake suddenly sat up, spitting muddy green and black muck all over her and he inhaled sharply to catch his breath. Kate yelped at the sight of him popping up covered in ooze, but she was relieved to see him. "Oh Jakob, just look at you", she said half laughing at the sight and half glad to see he was alright. She gently lifted his glasses off of his face and placed them on her head so they wouldn't get lost in the muck and gently began to wipe the gunk off of his face with her fingers.

"Are you alright Kate?" he asked worriedly as he began to wipe the mucky mess away from her face with his hands as well. He could clearly see the clean streaks left by her tears.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was so worried when I couldn't find you", she fussed as she wiped the mud from his beard with her thumbs. Kate stopped moving and realized she was holding his face in her hands. Looking into his soft, brown eyes filled with worry, she realized at that moment how much he cared about her. He had been the one in trouble, but he was more worried about her than anything else.

As Jakob wiped her cheeks gently with his thumbs, he could feel that she had stopped fussing and saw she was smiling at him. He held her face delicately in his large hands, his thumbs gently caressing her cheeks. Looking into her dark eyes, he saw only joy that he was alright and he shyly returned her smile. Just moments ago she had been genuinely frightened that she had lost him forever. As they looked at each other, he felt like butterflies had invaded his stomach, a whole herd of them!

They leaned forward into one another and their lips touched. Their fingers gently exploring each others faces as the kissed deeply. When they finally parted, Jake looked at her and said seriously, "Kate, we can't do this."

Kate felt bewildered, "Why not Jakob? I care for you. Don't you care for me?"

"Yes! No, I mean...we can't do this now…we're sinking!"

Kate let out a shriek as she looked down and saw that the mucky greenish black mud was now up around Jake's chest and as she was basically sitting on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, the oozy muck was quickly rising above her waist. Her skirts were soaked with it and the weight of her dress was pulling them both down into the swamp. She tried to get off of his lap, but found she was stuck fast in the mud. If they didn't get out of there now, they would both be sucked down into the swamp together.

Jake looked around trying to find something, anything that would help him free them. Over his left shoulder Jake spied a tree root that was sticking out into the swamp. 'That's it!' he thought. He told Kate exactly what he was going to do and hoped in his heart it would work the way he planned. Given what had just happened moments before, he wasn't ready to die just yet.

"Kate, listen to me", he said quickly, "I am going to roll over now and try to reach that tree root over there. If I can get hold of it, I should be able to pull us both out of here. What I need you to do is put you arms around my neck and hold on tightly and I will pull you out, alright?"

When Kate thought about it, she began to feel panic rising inside her. "No Jakob, if I do that, my weight will push you farther down and you'll drown! There has to be another way! Please, it's too dangerous!"

He gently grasped her shoulders to calm her down and make her focus. Looking directly into her eyes, he begged her, "Kate! Listen to me! I know what I'm doing. This is our only chance and you must trust me!" His pleading eyes searched hers for the answer, "Please…"

Kate nodded and even though the fear was still quite evident, her face told him that she did trust him. A renewed determination rushed through him. Turning slowly to his left, he reached out towards the tree root, trying to keep himself afloat in the mire. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck and held on. As he began to move slowly towards his goal, he sank slowly into the mud up to his chin. Reaching out with the other hand, trying to swim his way through, he sank a little farther. The progress was slow and for every few inches he moved forward, he would sink in just a little bit more.

"I have to let you go Jakob!" shouted Katherine, "I'm just too heavy! Please don't worry about me, save yourself so you can free Will!"

"Don't you dare let go of me!" he shouted back as he struggled through the muck trying desperately to keep his head up to breathe, "don't you dare or I shall have to pull you out by your hair!"

The root was one just inches from his fingertips. With one more stretch his fingers brushed past it. He pushed again and this time he grabbed hold only to have it slip from his muddy grasp. Finally, he was able to grip the root and began pulling them both out of the swamp very slowly. At last, reaching solid ground, they rolled over onto their backs and began to recapture the breath lost to effort, fear and exhaustion.

Katherine sat up and looked down at Jake with a smile on her face, her eyes shining, "That was the most amazing moment of my life!"

"Oh it was nothing really", said Jake as he sat up as well and took his glasses off the top of her head. "I've been in similar situations before and it was actually easier to do than I thought it would be in the beginning."

Jakob tried in vain to clean his glasses, but to no avail. He simply gave up and tucked them into the front pocket of his shirt.

"It was nothing?" snapped Kate, "It was too easy? Just what kind of a man are you, Jakob Grimm?"

Jake was completely puzzled by this. "You did mean the whole porridge, swamp, rescue thing didn't you?"

"What do you think I meant?" she said with an irritated look. With that, she jumped up and stalked off into the woods.

He watched her go and sitting there thinking the whole thing through, it suddenly occurred to him what she had meant. "Oh", he said to himself quietly then, "Oh! Kate wait!" he called to her in surprise as reality sank into his currently very thick head. Bolting up from the ground, he followed her through the wood. "Kate, wait. Where are you going? Kate? I'm sorry! Please wait!"

He cut around in front of her blocking her path and throwing his hands up in front of him, begging her to stop, asked, "Was I?" He swallowed hard, "Was I really amazing?" Looking at her very innocently he bit his bottom lip waiting for a response.

Kate looked at him standing there covered in muck, waiting for her approval and she couldn't help but smile at him. "Yes", she said as she took his hands in hers, "Just amazing."

Jakob blushed shyly and stuttered back, "Thank you."

"Now let's get down to the river and wash this stuff off", she laughed, "It's starting to itch."

As they walked to the river, she never let go of his hand. When they reached the river, they found they had come upon a beautiful clearing with a small waterfall that spilled into a large clear pool. Jake sat on some rocks and pulled off his boots, pouring out the oozy muck that filled them as he watched Kate wading into the water fully clothed to wash the mud from her dress and hair. He dove in after her and came up splashing water at her making her laugh. After they had finished, they sat on the rocks in the warm sun together to dry.

"Oh Kate", Jake apologized, "I never should have brought you along. This work is much too dangerous and it's gotten you into harm's way at least twice. I really…"

"Oh nonsense!" she replied laughing, "I don't regret coming along at all. I absolutely love this and I have never had so much fun in my life, with the exception of the spiders of course."

Jake gave her a wide smile. He was very happy that she enjoyed sharing this crazy life he had chosen. Touching the side of her face, he leaned in to kiss her once again, but was interrupted by shouting coming from near the top of the waterfall. It was Frederick.

"Hello! Hello!" he called to them, "I'm glad to see you're alright! I thought I had lost you. My, that was quite something wasn't …"

Fred promptly walked off the edge of the cliff next to the waterfall and fell with a huge splash into the pool below. Seconds later he popped up out of the water sputtering, "Woo! Well that was most refreshing!" and began wading out of the water.

"You alright?" called Kate.

"Bloody fantastic!" he called back cheerfully. Sloshing over to them, dripping wet, he plopped down on the rocks right between them, forcing them apart and began blathering on about the whole porridge incident, paying little attention to Kate and Jake.

They both leaned backwards and leaning behind Fred's back Jakob quietly said, "He is an idiot." Katherine simply replied, "Indeed."

* * *

This was my favorite chapter to write, for obvious reasons. However, in the way of a hint of things to come, this will be the last happy moment they will share together for quite a while. Thanks for reading this far and please leave reviews. I'd love to hear from you.


	9. The Little Gingerbread House

Well, it seems that Katherine and Jakob like each other well enough after all doesn't it? Will they live happily ever after? Oh well, that remains to be seen I fear. The old witch had failed to get rid of dear Jakob, so you well know she will try again don't you. The next part of the story is rather sad I'm afraid. You see Jakob and Katherine had just found each other, but Jakob will very shortly find himself lost and alone again right after they come upon...

**The Little Gingerbread House**

The three travelers made their way back to the little village to collect their things and hopefully get back on their way again. They were more than a bit apprehensive about what damage that may have been done. When they arrived they found that the porridge was gone and the village looked much the same as it did before, except it was deserted.

After hurriedly collecting their packs from their rooms, Jakob left a few coins on the table for the master of the house and they left the inn talking about how they would go about getting to the Castle of the Birds. Upon walking out the front door, they came face to face with a group of very angry and frightened villagers. The looks on their faces told everything. The array of sharp and blunt farm implements in their hands made Fred and Kate take a step backward behind Jake, effectively using him as a barrier.

Jakob put his hands up in front of him, scrunched up his nose and gave them a very puzzled look. "What?" he asked, confused by the disgruntled looking mob in front of him.

The old Frau whose house they had been in when the porridge pot boiled over pointed at them yelling, "There are the cursed ones! This is all their doing! This place was a quiet little village until they came! They're witches, I say!"

The villagers shouted in agreement as they raised their hands armed with pitchforks, rakes and anything else that was at hand, shaking them in the trio's direction.

"Get them!" yelled one of the men as he poked his pitchfork forward, leading the charge.

"Oh no…" said Jakob despondently. He turned and saw the other two were already making for the forest, leaving him behind to deal with the angry mob. Turning back toward the oncoming wave of villagers he let out a little shriek and bolted off after Fred and Kate. They all ran for their lives into the woods with all the villagers right behind them.

It took some time dodging around in the wood and hiding until they finally lost them. After waiting to make sure the villagers had given up their chase, Jakob got his bearings and they made off in the direction he reckoned would take them to the witch's castle.

*********

As the old witch looked out the window of her tower, she spit in anger! The troublemaker had escaped his doom she had set for him in the swamp. In a fit of resolve she was now quite ready to see to his end personally.

"I will have to snatch the girl now, I have no choice! The equinox is but two weeks away and that troublemaker has been a thorn in my side for the last time! I will personally see to his death with my own two hands!"

She turned and headed down the stairs so quickly, her long white hair billowed out behind her as she flew. "This time my plan will be fool proof, despite the good intentions of one fool in particular."

*********

Wilhelm looked out the window of the tower into the dark night studying the stars above thinking about how beautiful they looked. He wished he could see them from the outside, but knew that as long as he remained locked inside this horrid tower, he never would.

The eastern horizon was slowly turning a faint, pale blue, he knew it would be light soon and the castle occupants were still in their enchanted sleep. Picking up his knife from the food tray he began working on the door's hinges once again. Having already loosened the top hinge, he had been going about working on the bottom one.

It had been two weeks and he was actually getting sick of the sight and smell of all the rich food. 'Perhaps I was better off in that little cottage starving with my brother.' he thought. He had learned to sleep through the music and the noise in order to spend his nights working on his escape. One thing was for sure, Jakob's habit of talking in his sleep would never bother him again. In fact, right now, he would welcome that disturbance with open arms.

The knife slipped out of the hinge and Will pinched his fingers soundly. "Fat Christ!" he swore as he stuck his fingers in his mouth and sucked on them for a few minutes. He leaned back against the cold stone wall in exhaustion and irritation at his own incompetence. The sky outside his window had begun to lighten as the morning crept in. 'Another day in this god-awful tower', he thought.

Leaving his task behind, he went to the window to watch the light spreading over the landscape in the cold, crisp morning. The fall leaves were picking up their blazing color as the sun slowly washed over them. He grasped the bars in his hands that kept him from the outside world. "Jakob, where are you?" he said quietly scanning the landscape as far as he could see. Will had never felt as alone as he did on this cold, clear morning.

He began working on the hinge once again and in just a few short moments, the second hinge popped loose. 'Yes! Finally success!' he thought as shear joy rushed through him, but now he would have to wait just a bit longer. He would have to time this just right. If he left the room too soon, he would get caught the spell and end up sleeping where he falls with the rest of them. Too late and he would run the risk of getting caught by the guards and all his work would be wasted. He knew he had only a few minutes to get out of the castle when the clock struck the eleventh hour. Just a few hours more and he would have his freedom, but whatever that meant for him now, he didn't quite know.

*********

The trio had made good time traveling through the woods towards the castle. Jakob reckoned that it would only be two more days travel until they reached their destination. It was a bright, cold and crisp morning and the sun warmed them as they walked. A light breeze made the red, yellow and purple-brown leaves rustle overhead and swirl around the ground beneath their feet.

As they walked along Frederick asked, "so tell me Jakob, what is your plan for defeating the witch once we arrive at her castle?'

"Plan? There is no plan really", he replied.

"Well you must have some idea what we're going to do, don't you?"

"Not the foggiest. I'm just sort of going to play it by ear and see what happens. These things can be a bit dicey at best and each ones a bit different, so there you have it" Jake hurried away to catch up to Katherine leaving Fred to ponder what was said.

Fred thought for a moment with a very puzzled look on his face, "Wait…what? Jake, wait up!"

He tried in vain to get Jake to give him some sort of hint, but none was forthcoming.

In truth Jakob really didn't have any idea what he was going to do when he got there. He would just have to work things out the best way he could when the time came. He had only really done something like this once after all.

Jakob stopped, pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked around. Something about this place just felt wrong.

"What is it Jakob?" asked Katherine.

"I can't put my finger on it, but it feels like we've been here before", he said with a deep frown on his face.

Kate looked around; scanned the area closely and a look of surprise came over her face. "Your right", she replied, "It does seem like we've been here before. Those rocks over there and that thicket of gooseberry bushes…oh no, we have been here before. At the very least twice as I recall. Now what do we do?"

"Saints in hell!" swore Frederick as he plopped down on the ground tiredly, "I am sick of this whole thing! I wish I had never agreed to come on this fool's quest!" He grabbed up a handful of leaves and sticks and flung them away in disgust.

"Frederick! Get up this instant!" scolded Kate, "You were the one who couldn't wait to run off and rescue the Princess and if it wasn't for you, she wouldn't have been taken in the first place! You and your "pining heart". You just couldn't leave well enough alone as I told you to do and now poor Jakob and his brother are in trouble because of you as well!"

"Kate really", began Jake trying to defend him, "He didn't have anything to do with…"

"No! He has to be told! He has to take responsibility for his foolish daydreaming notions once and for all. This time he has gotten others in trouble as well as himself." She turned to Frederick once again, "Now get up and get moving! You will finish this and I will see to it if it's the last thing I do!"

Frederick reluctantly got up off the ground and as they moved off he followed behind them, sulking all the way.

A short time later, Fred looked around as a familiar odor filled his nostrils, but considering where they were, it seems very out of place. "Do you smell cookies?" asked Fred.

"What, in the middle of the forest?" said Kate looking at him oddly "Are you going daft?"

"No Kate, he's right. I do smell cookies", Jakob sniffed the air cautiously.

As they kept walking, the forest had begun to thin quite a bit and through the trees they could see a small cottage just ahead of them nestled in the wood. There was a garden in the front with all sorts of beautiful flowers blooming. It was painted warm shades of brown and the shutters had tiny heart shapes cut into them. To the left stood a stone well and a bucket with a long rope attached sat on the ground beside it. It was quite a charming and inviting little house, one that any weary traveler would welcome the sight of.

Jakob could just feel that there was something wrong about this whole thing, but he wasn't sure what as yet. "I don't think we really should go near that cottage. I think we should just keep moving."

Frederick's stomach growled loudly. "Ah, I'm starving!" he declared, "The smell of those cookies is driving me mad!"

"I can smell it now too", said Katherine, her mouth beginning to water.

Just then it all made sense. Jake knew why this odd little cottage appeared in the middle of the woods from nowhere. "The cottage, it's like the one before. It has to be the witch! We can't go near it!"

He waved his hands around pleading for their attention, but it did no good. Frederick had already bolted off towards the house followed by Kate. Jakob threw his hands up in frustration and took off after them, trying in vain to stop them.

Fred ran up the cobblestone walkway and ran his hands over the window shutter. "I was right!" he shouted, "It's Lebkuchen! The whole house is made of it!"

"Well now I know you have lost your mind", chided Kate, "A whole house made of Lebkuchen in the middle of the forest?"

"Kate" called Jakob panting as he caught up to her, "We have to leave here now. This is the witch's cottage!"

A sense of panic welled up inside Kate at hearing Jakob's words, but the smell of the cookies made her feel a bit dazed and confused. She knew they had to get out of there, but at the same time she felt almost compelled to stay rooted to the spot where she stood.

Frederick broke of a piece of the shutter with his hands and brought it to Kate waving it under her nose. "See I told you. It's gingerbread!" He broke off a small piece and crammed it in his mouth and as he chewed a wide smile came over his face. "This is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted!"

"Fred, No!" shouted Jake and Kate at the same time, but it was too late. He had already swallowed it. He broke off another piece and handed it to Katherine. She couldn't help what she did next, the smell was so overpowering. Popping the piece of gingerbread in her mouth she declared, "Your right. This is the best gingerbread I've ever had!" Fred tried to hand a piece of it to Jake, but he refused and stepped back making a disgusted face as he tried to hold his breath so as not to smell the fragrance of the gingerbread.

"No, we can't be doing this", he said nervously, "this has to stop now and we have to get away from here as fast as we can. Please listen to me! Fred, Kate, Please!"

Frederick and Katherine didn't hear a word he'd said. They just stood there like a couple of children munching away happily. The door to the cottage opened and Jake, startled, jumped back. His hands shot up in a defensive gesture.

Out of the door of the cottage strode a woman like Jakob had never seen before. She was of incomparable beauty. He was immediately stricken by her, his arms slowly falling to his sides and causing him to forget his companions for the moment. Tall and lithe, yet quite buxom, she moved like a willow in the wind in a gown the color of deep blue sapphires. Her pale skin was offset by long dark hair the color of ebony that fell in tiny ringlets all the way down to her hips, her eyes were a deep brown like a young doe in the forest and her full lips were as luscious as the morning dew on a deep red rose. She never took her eyes off Jake and it made him shiver inside as if she had looked directly into this eyes.

"Well what is this? Looks like I have two little mice nibbling at my house", her voice was just as enticing as the rest of her.

Jakob suddenly came to as if splashed by cold water in his sleep, "Oh, no no no! They meant harm really. I am so sorry about this…about your house, I mean. Um well, I…we were just on our way. Just passing through and um…I uh, we should really be going…yes."

He tried in vain to grab each of them by the arm and lead them away from the house, but they protested that they didn't want to go and it would be rude of them to leave just yet and so on, working themselves free of his grasp.

"Oh, it's quite alright", said the raven-haired beauty, "If you are so hungry as to take a bite of my house, why not come inside. I have delicacies beyond compare inside that I am most willing to share and I wouldn't want travelers in my land to go hungry."

Jakob tried once again to get Katherine and Frederick to leave, but they continued to resist him as if they had completely forgotten what they were on their way to do. Nothing seemed to matter to them but food.

"Oh come on", chided Fred, "A good meal and then we can go on our way with a renewed vigor. What do you say, eh?"

"Oh, please", plead Kate, "it couldn't hurt to rest for just a bit. Please?"

"We have to get to the castle", mumbled Jakob out of the side of his mouth at them, while keeping his eye on the woman and a rather stupid smile on his face in an effort to seem to remain polite.

"Oh forget him. He's no fun at all", Fred laughed and he and his sister turned to enter the cottage.

"Wait, no!" called Jake as he tried to follow after them.

He had only gotten a few steps when he was cut off by the charming enchantress. Gliding up to him as if she were floating on air, she looked into his soft brown eyes that were now tinged with fear and cooed as him softly, "Please do come inside. After all, a big strapping man like you must be starving after wandering around lost in the forest all day."

She slowly ran her fingers up the side of his chest as she leaned in toward him. Her fingers lightly traced the hollow of his cheek as she looked deeply into his eyes, her body pressing firmly up against his. Jakob had begun to sweat despite the coolness of the day and he could feel his knees begin to tremble just as any man's would who was faced with such a beauty softly caressing him. He couldn't help but be drawn to her, her eyes locked to his looking deep into his soul, her body moving against his.

"Come on Jakob. You know you want it", he felt her breath on his cheek as her lips brushed past his, teasing. "You know you want to taste it"

Her other hand came up between their faces stopping right under Jake's nose and in the palm of it rested a piece of the gingerbread. Jakob's mouth had begun to water; the smell was overwhelmingly enticing now. He swallowed hard as he stared down at the small, brown, heart-shaped cookie in her hand.

"Just one little taste Jakob and you can anything you wish for." she said seductively as she held the piece of gingerbread in her fingers and waved it under his nose.

Letting out a soft sigh and weaving back and forth, following the bit of cookie in her fingers, Jakob was nearly under her spell. Yes, a wish would be perfect! He could put an end to this whole thing with just one wish. He wanted that bit of cookie now more than anything in the world. Except maybe her! How could he not help but want her as well? She was beautiful, she was exciting and she was a liar!

Common sense had just rudely invaded his fantasy. How did she know his name? How did she know they had been lost in the forest and wandering about that day? Something was wrong, dead wrong.

"Beans", he said matter-of-factly.

"What was that my love?" the enchantress asked smoothly.

"Beans!" Jake shouted in her face.

Grabbing her by the shoulders he pushed her away while at the same time backing up a few steps into the garden tripping over the flowers as he went. He was sweating with fear now. Nervous and shaking he raised his hands and pointed at her, stammering, "How do you know my name, witch? Hm? Hm? Ha…How did you know we were lost? No wait, I can tell you. You're the witch aren't you? Hm?"

For some reason he would never be able to comprehend, even years later, he loosely crossed his arms and a smug look came over his face as he guessed her identity. However a small voice in the back of his mind literally screamed at him, 'Don't taunt the witch, you fool. Don't taunt the witch!'

"You weren't as easy as I thought you'd be" she said smoothly, "You must really care for the girl more than I had anticipated."

Jakob tilted his head and gave her a bit of a confused look.

"But no matter", she continued, "they're mine now and you will never see her again!"

"The girl has nothing to do with it!" he protested, "What made you think you could get away with this? Did you really think I would fall for this and for you?"

He was getting a little too cocky for his own good now. "I could never be charmed into doing anything by such a vile creature as you! Now let them go or I'll…I'll…"

Jake looked around desperately for something, anything he could use. He was woefully unprepared the this encounter and it occurred to him that this time there was no enchanted axe, no magic mirror, nothing he could use to stop her no matter how much he wished it.

"Or you'll do what?!" she screamed. The scream became a twisted ear-piercing shriek.

The witch shrieked so loudly, Jakob had to cover his ears for fear they would bleed. Where those words he spoke had come from, he wasn't quite sure, but he immediately regretted saying them. The witch slowly raised her arms above her head as a foul wind came rushing up out of the very ground on which she stood. With another earsplitting shriek she transformed to her real appearance.

'Dammit Jake, you've taunted the witch!' he thought. Balling up his fists and shaking them, he squeezed his eyes shut and scolded himself, "Stupid! Stupid!"

The old witch's eyes flashed with anger, "The girl you care for so much has now completed my collection and her foolish brother will serve as the centerpiece of my celebration feast!"

Jakob's stomach felt a little queasy at the thought, adding to his already existent disgust at letting that old hag get that close to him. The thought that he almost…well, it was just too much to think about in one sitting.

"However, I have no use for you! You're much too tall and too thin. You would probably cook up much too stringy for my tastes!"

Jakob started to protest that statement, but realized he would be only talking himself into being the main course. Instead he took one last shot at getting Fred and Kate out of there. He shouted their names knowing it would do no good, but he had to try all the while keeping his eye on the witch.

'I could really use Will's help right now', he thought. If only for one of them to serve as a distraction while the other fetched Fred and Kate from the house. In desperation he bolted for the front door hoping if he got inside, he might be able to at least find a clue to the source of her power or perhaps a weakness he could exploit like the Queen's mirror in Marbaden.

It was not to be however, the witch raised her hands and Jakob found himself frozen in his tracks.

"It's time to say goodbye to your friend and your lost love! You will cry for the loss of her, but it won't be for very long, I've made sure of that! Take this one final thought to the grave with you Jakob Grimm, **you've failed**!!"

Jakob suddenly felt himself being shot straight up into the air. He couldn't move, he could barely breathe.

"Ding dong bell, Pussy's in the well!" shouted the witch as she shoved her hands forward in the air toward Jake.

Just as suddenly he was thrown backward at high speed. He never heard the rest of the rhyme. His world blurred as he flew like a rag doll and his chest burned from the impact of the witch's magical blow that felt like he had been kicked by a wild horse. The back of his head made contact with something hard and as a wave of horrible pain shot through him, he mercifully blacked out.

The witch had thrown Jakob into the dry well next to the cottage and he had slammed the back of his head into the inside wall of the well as he fell. She laughed to herself knowing that at the bottom of that well the little troublemaker would surely die and trouble her no more.

When Jakob came to a few moments later, he was lying on his back looking upward; his head and back throbbing with pain. He knew he had failed, his friends were now gone and there was nothing he could do. The thought crossed his mind that he may die at the bottom of this well as he stared up at the small circle of blue far above him.

It was done and over now. He had let down Katherine and Frederick and they had been captured. As the thought of Katherine trapped forever in a golden cage weighed on his heart, tears began to well up in his eyes. He sobbed at the thought of never seeing her again however short a time that might be for him now.

His thoughts turned to his brother Will and Kate's words to her brother came back to him. "_He has to take responsibility for his foolish daydreaming notions once and for all. This time he has gotten others in trouble as well as himself!_" He sobbed again at the thought and as one lone tear escaped down his cheek he whispered, "Forgive me Will."

* * *

Poor Jake. This is not how he would have had things end up at all. Now what will happen to them all? Thanks for the reviews. It always nice to hear from readers what they think of the story. Please keep reading and reviewing. Thanks.


	10. The Prison Without A Door

Oh yes, that was a terrible place for Jakob to wind up, wasn't it? And poor Frederick and Katherine, taken by the evil witch! Seems there's no end to their trials and tribulations is there? Oh what? What about Wilhelm? I guess it as been a bit since we've looked in on him hasn't it? You like Wilhelm don't you, I can tell by the look on your faces. I was quite fond of him as well. Well then, I suppose I will tell you what happened when he found himself in...

**The Prison Without A Door**

Finally the time had come. Will stood anxiously by the door-frame of the tower room. He had finally managed to remove the door and all that remained now was for him to wait a few minutes longer until the church bells began to strike eleven. As he peered around the corner he could hear the snoring of the castle inhabitants. Poised for action and holding his breath, Will knew he had a very short time indeed to make a break for it and escape before everyone awoke. Timing would be everything.

The first chime of the church bells rang out. The sound jolted through Wilhelm like electricity and he bolted out the door. He went charging down the hallway and rounding the corner, he jumped over the two guards that were sleeping on the stairwell. Down the stairs, up the full length of the hall and into the throne room he flew with the bells chiming relentlessly in his ears. He was counting them as he ran; three, four, five! Around the banquet table, over a sleeping Lord and out the door into the great hall; six, seven, eight! Through the great hall dodging sleepers, cups, wine bottles and other flotsam scattered on the floor, he made for the drawbridge. Nine, ten, eleven he counted as he kicked the block out of the way of the brake and the drawbridge opened, hurling its way towards the ground like a falling giant.

Not waiting for it to complete its journey, Will ran for the falling drawbridge only to feel himself suddenly stop and be dragged backward by the shirt. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on the cold stone floor of the castle staring up at a half dozen very pointy spears held by a half dozen very serious guards.

"And just where do you think you are going, little mouse?" This came from a rather large and worrisome fellow who chose to rest the point of his spear right under Will's chin. Trying to control the panic inside, Will looked down his nose as best he could at the head of the spear and hoped he could speak without stabbing himself in the process.

"I was um… well I", stuttered Wilhelm wearing a largely stupid grin on his face that he hoped at least came off looking somewhat charming, "I was just going out for a bit of fresh air. I would have come back you know, what with the lovely hospitality of this place and all. I…"

He was cut off by the spear pushing up into his chin which caused him to tip his head back farther in an effort not to be skewered. The large guard glowered at him and withdrawing the spear he announced, "Bring him!"

Two of the guards snatched Will up, one on each arm and proceeded to drag him backwards towards the throne room, his heels dragging on the floor. Nervously he tried to bargain his way out of his fate, but to no avail.

"I can't stay here! No really, I can't. My brother needs me and I can be of a great help, really I can! If you want to get the Princess back I…Ack!"

The next thing he knew he was twisted around in mid sentence and dropped face first on the stone floor at the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne. As he looked up, his eyes met with a very angry King.

"Trying to leave us so soon, Herr Grimm?" sputtered the King, "If I were a less patient man I would have your head this instant!"

"Your majesty please, I only want to find my brother and help him get your daughter back", Will put on his best smile and tried to sound as sincere as he could, "You see, my brother is a very smart fellow when it comes to books and such, but when it comes down to it he's not really very good at reasoning out how to handle some of the more bizarre things we've come across. I mean I really need to be there to guide him through some of the intricacies of some of the more difficult aspects of our work. I'm the one with the most experience with these unnatural occurrences that can change at a moments notice and he…"

At that moment the King's patience ran out, "Enough! That sounds like something that came out of the wrong end of a horse! I will not be treated like one of those village idiots that you're so fond of speaking of!" He motioned to the two guards that had escorted Will into the room earlier, "Take him back to the tower and secure the door!" Turning back to Will he warned him well, "You're lucky I'm putting you back there. I could throw you into the dungeon no window, no fresh air and plenty of rats to keep you company!"

Wilhelm raised his hands into the air and let them fall heavily against his sides in a fit of frustration. The two guards approach him from either side as an idea popped into his head. 'Village idiots? Of course!'

As they grabbed Will by the arms and were about to drag him away he began shouting at anyone who would listen.

"Listen to me! Lis…ten…to…me!! The king is bewitched! He is under the witch's spell! The only reason he's keeping me here is because she wants us to fail! She is keeping him from letting me go to find my brother so we can free the Princess! Unless you let me go, you will be stuck here in the nightmare forever!"

The guards stopped and stared at Will, then looked at each other not sure what to do next. Murmurs went around the room as the courtiers wondered among themselves if this revelation were true. Will was sure he had them because he had played right into their superstitious nature. He knew full well that no matter how well educated or what station you were in life, there was always that spark of doubt in the back of everyone's mind. If you played to it correctly, you had them.

"Search your hearts, you know its true!" he continued, "Your King is under her evil influence and she wants him to keep me here! She knows I can defeat her easily and she is afraid! So what say you? Free me or be trapped here for eternity?"

At that point the crowd fell apart. Loud voices in nervous conversation filled the room as they became more agitated. The din was punctuated by shouts of "Let him go!" and "Does our King deceive us?" A sly and devilish smile played across Will's face.

"Enough!" shouted the King's chamberlain, "Look at you! You're being taken in by a rogue and a conman! Turning your back on your King with just a few words from a man whose reputation precedes him as a liar and a thief? How dare you! This loathsome excuse for a human being has conned more than one village out of their money, their women and their dignity!"

Will was indignant about the charges being levied against him, but he kept his temper. The crowd was beginning to turn ugly, he knew he'd lost them and he knew if he didn't say something quickly his "little white lie" he told them was going to end up putting him into a fairly deep hole. At this point he figured humble and repentant was the way to go.

"Yes! About the money, I fully admit to that. The women", he sighed deeply, "unfortunately no, not so much and dignity? Well, I…"

"Silence!" the King stood and glared at his crowd of subjects, "If you continue this, I will behead you where you stand whether my daughter is returned safely and this horrid spell is broken or not and anyone else who chooses to side with him as well!"

The crowd grew silent and shrank back towards the back of the room. Will swallowed hard, 'It almost worked' he thought despondently. He also was well aware that he had been close to meeting his doom due to his madding inability to keep his big mouth shut!

"Take him back to the tower now and bolt him down well!" commanded the King, "and if you try to escape again you will be thrown in the dungeon in chains to await your execution!"

Snatching Will up roughly the guards proceeded to drag him away back to the tower room. With no other choice, he had resigned himself to the fact there will be no time for another escape attempt today. That point became very clear in the next few moments as the church bells began to ring in the noon hour. 'Oh no!' thought Will, as the urgency of his current situation hit him. He had no desire to be stuck in the excruciatingly exhausting loop of party after party after party. He thought it best to hurry the guards along up the stairs.

"Let me go!" he shouted desperately, the clock ticking out his fate. 'Dear God, that's six!', he thought as he kept careful count. He had to escape the enchantment, knowing full well if he didn't his chance to get out of there and find Jakob would be gone. Desperately he tried to wrench his arms free and bolt up the stairs, but the guards would have none of it. In their minds he was trying to escape and they only hung on tighter.

"Let me go damn it!" he swore. Now he was practically dragging them up the stairs in an effort to get back to the tower room. His time was running out quickly, just two chimes left and they were still too far from the door. Will had begun to sweat as he grunted and strained against his captors.

Desperation sometimes leads to small bits of genius. Will resorted to an old barmaid's trick that they used when patrons began to get a bit too handsy for their liking. As a matter of fact he had been on the receiving end of it himself a few times, so he knew it hurt like hell. Raising his leg up as high as he could and bringing it down swiftly, he jammed the heel of his boot directly into one of the guards knees, down his shin and into the top of his foot. The guard yelped in pain and let loose of Will's arm. Will yanked his arm backward out of the guard's grasp and swinging back forward hard, he made good solid contact with the other guards chin. He dutifully crumbled to the ground.

With one nearly out cold and the other one nursing his leg, Will saw his opportunity and took it. He ran full tilt for the doorway and almost too late for his liking, dove through the doorway and landed hard on the stone floor. He lay exhausted and sweating on the floor, he could hear the music from down below and he knew how close he had come to being caught. Wincing as he rolled over onto his back, he made mental note of the fact his knees, right elbow and left hip bone would surely be well bruised by morning. In fact he noted that the elbow was already sprouting a smudge that was a lovely shade of purple.

"Fat Christ!" he said sounding disgusted. He lay back on the cool stone floor and stared at the all too familiar ceiling. The guards in the hall had already forgotten the whole event as if it had never happened and had gone back down to the party. Lying there he knew that even with the door now off its hinges, he could not leave. The enchantment over the castle was now his barred door to his jail cell and there was no way to pick the lock on that.

Exhausted from his lack of sleep over the past day as well as his tussle with the guards, he pulled himself up off the floor and threw himself on the bed. He thought about just how unnerving it was that he had come so close to dieing today, however if Jake didn't come through in ten short days it wouldn't matter anyway,

Will clasped his hands together and stared up at the ceiling of his room. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly in humble resignation. "I'm not very good at things like this and I know it's my fault that I don't do this very often. You probably don't even know who I am, but could you see your way clear to help my brother out just this once? Not for my sake, for I'm sure I don't deserve it, but for everyone else's? Even after all that's happened between us, he is still my brother after all and I do trust him to do this, but a little extra help couldn't hurt, could it?"

Wilhelm couldn't think of anything else to say. Sticking his pillow under his head, the open door looming before him, he felt a wave of despair come over him. It was almost as if he could feel Jakob's grief as he lay at the bottom of the well. 'Hang on Jakob', he thought, 'You mustn't give up or give in! I swear if we make it through this I will make up for every rotten thing I've ever done to you, even if it takes the rest of my miserable life to do it!'

Sleep began to overcome him. He hadn't slept since the day before and only sporadically in the few days before that due to his frenzied determination at lock picking. In just moments he was sleeping peacefully despite the bright fall midday sun pouring through the window and all the music and noise coming through the wide open doorway that offered no escape.

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I know this is a short chapter in the grand scheme of things, but I promise Will is going to get more attention later in the story. As always, thanks for the reviews. I love hearing from you and I would really appreciate hearing from you all on this chapter. Thanks.


	11. The Blue Light

Oh my goodness! Wilhelm very nearly made it out of the castle didn't he? Not to worry though. He's a very determined sort of person and you know he will try again. Have no fear of that. Now then, where did I leave off with Jakob? What? Oh yes, in the well of course. Alright then, as you will see Jakob is about to go to a place that will try his heart and his soul. His only way to the other side will be...

**The Blue Light**

Jakob awoke in despair to still find himself at the bottom of the well. He couldn't remember if he had cried himself to sleep or simply passed out from the bump on the back of his head. How didn't matter really nor did it matter how long he had been asleep at this point. He knew it had been awhile for when he looked up all he could see was a circle of bright stars in the silken blackness.

Sitting up, his head throbbed and he gingerly touched the lump on the back of his head. "Ouch!" His voice echoed in the stone well making his headache worse. 'Shouldn't have done that', he thought as he winched and sat still for a few moments waiting for the pain and nausea to die down a bit.

It certainly was pitch black down there making it impossible for him to see anything. He slowly crawled in one direction until he could touch the side of the well and felt his way up the wall as he stood. He walked slowly around as he touched the sides of the well and he felt around for handholds that might be used to climb out, but found that the stones had been worn down nearly smooth and what ever grip he could have gotten was impaired by the fact that a fairly slippery moss or slime had woven his way among the cracks making the act of climbing out impossible.

Jake sat back down and leaned against the mossy wall. He was having a somewhat difficult time thinking past the headache and a means of escape was eluding him for the moment. A small twinkle of blue light near the bottom of the well caught his eye and he blinked and adjusted his glasses trying to focus in the pitch blackness with little success. 'Oh, now I'm loosing my mind and seeing things! Must I be tortured in my last hours as well?' However, the longer he looked at it, the brighter it became.

Crawling slowly over to the opposite side from where he sat, he peered at the blue light that was now shining quite brightly as it poured out between the cracks of two stones. Jakob forgot everything as curiosity got the better of him. He ran his fingers around the stones and finding them to be somewhat loose, continued to dig in attempt to remove the two stones from the wall of the well.

Finally one of the stones came loose and pulling it away, the light poured brightly in illuminating the inside of the well. Before removing the stone next to it, Jakob thought it best to check and see if the wall was steady enough to pull that one out as well. It wouldn't do to have the well collapse in on him. That would certainly be insult to injury at this point. Seeing that it was safe, he removed the other stone and set it aside. After removing enough stones to make a space large enough for him to crawl through, he could see the blue light was filtering through the wall of dirt that had sat behind the stones, so he carefully began digging away the dirt around light. His fingers hit something hard in the dirt and hoping it wasn't a rock, he went fishing around in his satchel until his fingers found a small knife that he used to trim the ends of his quills and he proceeded to pry the object out of the wall.

A small glass box tumbled out onto the ground. Jakob picked it up and examined it carefully with awe and wonder at the beautiful blue light that shone inside. Something told him this trinket was going to be of a great help to him, but he wasn't yet clear as to how. He sat back and crossed his legs taking his time looking it over very carefully. He noticed a small gold latch on one side that he had sworn wasn't there before. He began to lift the latch, but stopped. He knew full well magic like this could be good, but at the same time he knew it could also be very bad and things could go horribly, tragically wrong. At this point however, he didn't think things could go much worse for him than they already were. So he held his breath and opened the latch.

There was a bright blue flash that made him turn his head away and wince. When he looked back he couldn't believe what he saw! There stood a little man only two feet tall. Somehow he reminded Jake of a garden gnome he'd seen once in front of someone's house. The little man was dressed completely in black from the tip of his hat down to his tiny pointed toed shoes, a long black straggly beard hung from his chin and long black hair poked out from under his pointed hat. However, the most striking thing about him was the fact he was ugly as sin! It made it very difficult for Jakob to look at him without grimacing in disgust, but he held his decorum as best he could for fear of offending the little man.

"How may I serve you, Master?" asked the little man, bowing respectfully.

"Beg pardon?" replied Jakob looking around and then pointing to himself. He couldn't imagine it was he who was being called Master. He then felt rather stupid for looking about all the while knowing he was the only one there. "Don't be such a ninny Jakob, of course he's talking to you!" he whispered to himself as he covered his face with the palm of his hand.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by 'how can I serve you'?"

"You are the one who has freed me from my prison within the blue light", the ugly little man explained, "You have freed me from the witch's spell that kept me trapped inside and now it is my turn to help you. For your kindness I shall serve you and grant you three wishes. You shall be my Master for that time until they are all used, but use them wisely and I will serve you well. Just remember to keep the glass box with you at all times and if you ever need me, all you have to do is open the box."

"I see", Jakob replied. Thinking this over carefully, he thought the first order of business was to get out of the well. However, Jake knew the wishes must be very specific or they could sometimes turn out horrifyingly wrong. He asked politely to be freed from the well, but phrased it properly so as not to end up someplace much worse.

"Of course", said the little man and he turned and walked toward the hole in the side of the well that Jake had made removing the stones. "Follow me." With that he disappeared into the hole.

Jakob placed the box into his pants pocket and crawled forward towards the hole. He wondered where the little man had gone considering that only solid earth lay beyond the stones, but to his surprise there was indeed a hole there large enough for Jake to crawl through rather comfortably. The hole came out at the end of a very long hallway that was tall enough for him to stand up and walk in without bumping the top of his head. The little man was up ahead of him walking along, carrying a bright lantern. By the lantern light he could see the hall was lined with the same kind of stones that lined the well and a stone archway lay at the end. Jakob was glad to be out of the well, but at the same time very cautious about this whole business. So much was happening at once he really didn't have time to think about any one thing and how it could be happening.

As they passed through the archway at the end of the hall, Jakob was astounded by what he saw there. They had stepped into a great chamber dimly lit by candlelight from sconces on the walls. The walls themselves were covered in heavy, ancient tapestries depicting every sin man could commit in horrid detail, the roof was supported by numerous stone columns that were covered in gargoyles of various shapes and sizes with ugly twisted faces. Jakob shivered from the cold air that filled this place as well as the dread he felt at being there. The dust was thick in the air making it hard for him to breathe and tattered cobwebs hung from everything. Something brushed his face, he jumped and cowering looking up at the ceiling. The long dark roots from the trees above hung down from the ceiling like long, bony, black fingers and it felt as if they were reaching out to grab him with every step. Even as a child, Jakob had never felt as frightened as he did in this place.

What he saw next made his blood run cold. The room was filled with row upon row of glass coffins. Jakob moved toward one to inspect it more closely, almost terrified at what he might find inside. There he found a young woman dressed in a black velvet gown. She looked as if she were only sleeping, her cheeks still rosy and her full lips still red, but as far as he could see she wasn't breathing. He noticed she was wearing a gold necklace with a tiny charm made to look like a small golden cage with a tiny bird inside. In fact every one of the glass coffins contained a young woman dressed in the same way. Wondering how all these dead maidens had come to be here, he thought how sad it was that they were all entombed here where on one could visit their graves or ever leave flowers in remembrance of their passing.

"This is where she keeps them", said the little man, "the girls she enchanted and turned into her birds."

Ah, so they weren't dead! These were the enchanted maidens and that could only mean one thing. Even in this desperate and horrible place, Jakob's heart leapt for joy as he scurried around the room moving from case to case. Then he saw her. "Kate!" he called as he ran to her coffin and threw himself against it. "Kate, wake up! Can you hear me? Kate!" He beat on the top of the coffin with the flat of his hands a few times as he called her name, hoping at any moment she would open her eyes. Desperately he ran his fingers around the edges trying to find some way to open the case and free her, but found none.

"She cannot hear you", the little man said, "For these are only their earthly bodies that you see here. Their souls are trapped inside the birds she conjured, trapped inside the golden cages that hang in the tower of the castle high above ground and far away."

Jakob's heart sank in despair. The look of sadness on his face was immeasurable. There he was so close to her he could almost touch her, yet he could do nothing to save her. She lay just inches from his arms that were wrapped around the glass case, in all her deathly beauty. Turning his face and placing his cheek against the cold hard glass he closed his eyes and let go a shuttered sigh. It wasn't fair, she was gone and he had just really begun to love her!

"If you truly wish to save her, we must continue on. There is no hope here in this place, but up above you may find all that you need."

Jakob looked at her one last time and stood up tall squaring his shoulders. "All right then, lead on!" he nodded at the little man with a renewed determination and followed as he lead the way toward the archway on the other side of the great room.

As they entered another long hallway, Jakob noted that this one was quite different. It was very narrow with a low ceiling so he had to stoop down to avoid hitting his head. Instead of stone walls like the one before, the walls were lined with bones and skulls, their creepy smiles glaring out at him in a morbid clown-like way, their hollow eyes staring. Set on the left side of the narrow hall were seven doors each with its own unique markings.

"These are the bones of those the old witch has seen set before her at her table", the little man explained, "A great many young men have fallen to appease her appetite. Consider yourself lucky not to have been among them."

Jakob frowned and pouted, hanging his head and holding his own arms tight against himself in an effort of self comfort and to not touch the bones themselves as they past. He was quite curious about what was behind the doors though.

"Do not consider looking at what's behind these doors. There are things beyond them that you really have no wish to see."

Jakob shivered. It was unnerving the little man knew what he was thinking and he didn't dare try to imagine what lay beyond those doors. However, when they came to the last door, the little man stopped.

"This one you may enter. This room contains the witch's fortune, her hoard of gold and jewels for she has sworn she will never be poor again."

Jakob cautiously approached the door and turned the knob. It didn't quite feel like a trap, but he still didn't quite trust the little man. The little man followed and held his lantern high as he entered so Jake could see the contents of the room. He was amazed at what he saw. It was filled with chests, boxes and bags brimming with gold coins, cups, plates and statues and woven throughout were stings of pearls, emeralds and other precious jewels.

"So she never wants to be poor again and these things as precious to her, yes?" asked Jakob.

The little man nodded and Jakob became lost in deep thought. He had an idea brewing in the back of his mind. After a bit of working things out, he knelt down and stuffed two large handfuls of gold coins into his pack. 'These may be very useful late on', he thought. Then something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. There buried under a mound of gold and jewels was a hand mirror. He pulled it out and examined it. The hand mirror looked very old and was delicately fashioned out of pure gold. The back of it was encrusted with a half dozen kinds of jewels and the handle encrusted with small pearls. With half a thought, Jakob put this in his pack as well. It was a crazy idea that it might have some use, but somehow it made him feel a bit safer and in control having it.

Leaving the room and closing the door behind them, they continued up the hall. Entering a small alcove they began to climb up a long stone stairway. The stairs seemed to go on forever and Jakob was getting quite out of breath, but the little man didn't seem bothered at all even though his short legs had to step up quite high to make each step.

At long last they passed out of a doorway that was cut into a hillside that was covered with vines that bore flaming red and orange leaves. When Jakob looked around, he couldn't believe where they were. They had come out no more than twenty paces from where the well sat, but the house and garden were now gone! Jakob had definitely lost track of time. He hadn't any idea how long he had been asleep at the bottom of the well nor did he know how long they had been underground. He did know that when he found the box that contained the blue light, it was night and the stars were visible through the top of the well. Now it was broad daylight and the bright sun hurt his eyes and made him squint.

"What day is it?" Jakob asked, beginning to panic about lost time. He feared he might be too late to save Will if he had been gone too long. "How long…?"

"Do not worry Master. It is the same day in which you fell to the bottom of the well. You have lost no time in your quest, I have seen to that. After all, you are my Master and I must see to your well being until the three wishes are fulfilled."

"But how…?" Jakob began, but knew there wouldn't be any answer other than the crooked smile on the little man's very ugly face.

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Thanks for all the support with your reviews. I really appreciate it. This story is a little over halfway done and your feedback is really keeping me going on this. I really am having a great time writing this and I'm glad you like reading it! Keep the reviews coming and I'll see you next chapter.


	12. A Master Thief

Well, wasn't that such good luck that Jakob finally got out of that old witch's trap? What? Oh yes, yes it was very sad that he had to see Katherine in the glass coffin, but don't worry. Now that he is free, you'll soon see what he's willing to do to save her. What about Wilhelm you ask? Alright then, I will tell you what happened to him and it's really not as terrible as you think. At least not yet. You see, he is going to try to escape once again and this time he thinks he will succeed. Sadly he isn't as clever as he thinks he is. He may be a very good conman, but he is not as clever at stealing away as...

**A Master Thief**

The birds were chirping loudly and a cool breeze was blowing through the window of the tower when Wilhelm awoke. He felt stiff and his bruises were coming along nicely. It was quiet in the castle so he assumed he had slept through the night and it was sometime in the early morning of the following day. He arose and washed his face at the washstand in an effort to try and drag himself into another day in that wretched tower!

Even though it was apparently morning, Will grabbed the wine bottle from the table and putting it to his lips, tipped it up. 'Might as well.' he thought, 'There's nothing else to do.' The bottle was bone dry. With disgust and disappointment Will flung the empty bottle right out the open door of the tower and listened as it rolled down the stairs with pinging sound until it reached the bottom. There was a tiny crash at the end, but he couldn't care less at this point.

He began pacing back and forth in his room, his boredom giving way to despair, but was interrupted by the church bells chime. Listening carefully he counted the chimes. "Ten o'clock! Yes!" he shouted. A renewed vigor came over him. It wasn't too late to try again! This time he would plan more carefully and since the direct approach hadn't worked very well the last time, he felt perhaps a more stealthy approach would be in order. If he remembered correctly, in most castles there were enough convenient hiding places along the way between the tower and the drawbridge; that he should be able to pass through the castle in less than an hour's time unnoticed. He hoped. At this point, if his escape attempt cost him his life, then so be it! Anything was preferable to this! Will paced back and forth in the room as he carefully thought out each step in his escape. He was beginning to think the next hour would never pass, but soon the church bells began to ring.

Standing at the door and peering around the corner he found the hallway empty. He moved quickly and quietly to the top of the stairs and with his back pressed against the wall he listened for anything that told him that someone was on the stairs beyond. Hearing nothing, he leaned forward and looked for the guards, but saw no one, so he moved down the stairs cautiously pausing at the bottom again to listen for footsteps in the hall beyond.

'So far, so good', he thought as he made his way around the corner into the hallway that led to the throne room. This stretch would be particularly precarious due to the lack of hiding places. It seemed that the King was a man of simple tastes and wasn't one for having too many ornamental items cluttering up the castle.

"Why couldn't he be one of the greedy sorts", he whispered to himself, frowning.

Will slid down the hall with his back to the wall and scouted ahead for a place to hide if the need arose, but it was desperately barren. Just then, Will heard footsteps coming towards him and voices in conversation that were growing louder with each passing moment. Slightly panicked, he had to make a hasty decision on a hiding place or face the dungeon. Not a prospect he was looking forward to on any level.

His eyes fell on two large tapestries that were hanging on the opposite wall. Without hesitation, he slid between them and slipped behind one of them just as the voices told him their owners had rounded the corner into the hall. Two courtiers strolled down the hallway toward him in tired conversation having just awakened from their forced slumber somewhere in the rooms beyond. Will held his breath and despite the chill in the air, had begun to sweat. The tapestry was a heavily woven wool piece, heavy with dust and it was damnably hot and nearly suffocating being behind it.

'Oh no!' he thought. It had suddenly occurred to him that his feet were sticking out from under the wall hanging. 'Could you possibly be any more oblivious, Wilhelm?' he chided himself. Slowly he spread his feet apart, heels together, toes in opposite directions, his knees bent awkwardly out to the sides and all the while praying he didn't lose his balance. The two courtiers moved past him and down the hall, taking the passage to their left. Thankfully they hadn't noticed him nor had they taken the stairs to the tower to check on him. Will let his breath out in a relieved puff and straightened out his now cramping legs as he slipped out from behind the tapestry. Quickly he slipped down the hall and planted himself up against the wall to the left of the doorway that led to the throne room.

The next step would be the tricky part, getting across the throne room unnoticed. Will had a pretty good idea how to go about it, but he would have to be very careful. 'Time for a bit of reconnoitering', he thought as he squatted down, turned to face the wall and slowly peered around the corner into the throne room to get a good sense of its layout and not just depend on his memory of the room. After all, he had been just a bit distracted by his own mortality both times he'd been there.

There were a couple of dozen people milling about the room slowly and few of them still sat at the tables trying to wake up. Squires moved about the room tiredly trying to clear away some of the mess from the night before, but weren't being too successful at it. Will noted the long banquet table to his left which was covered with a cloth that draped to the floor, an unholy mess stretched out across the top of it. Sliding down the wall to his knees and making sure no one saw him; Will crawled the short distance across the doorway, past an overturned chair and lifting the cloth, slipped under the table.

One look at the underside of the table made Will scrunch up his face in disgust. " Aw, gah!" he said quietly as he squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away. The floor underneath was littered with plates, cups, old food and some unrecognizable, lumpy, sticky looking things the used to be "something", but Will didn't want to think about what they once could have been. Now having come this far and having no other choice really, he began to slowly pick his way through the horrid mess without getting into anything too nasty, towards the other end of the table.

Reaching the other end, Will thought it best to take a quick peek before taking the next leg of his escape. What he saw next made him blanch. Upon lifting the cloth, he was confronted with two very large and very hairy knees. One of the courtiers, a hugely rotund fellow with a dark beard sat at the end of the table, still snoring away. 'Oh great!' thought Will. Getting around him to the next hiding place was going to take a bit of doing. However, before he could rethink his plan, the large man had begun to wake up and began shifting around in his chair. He froze where he knelt afraid to move. He was right between the man's knees, so he dared not move and give himself away. This turned out to be not the best of plans. The large man stretched and yawned, then proceeded to pass the longest, loudest fart that Will had ever heard!

From his position under the table, the effect was immediate. Will felt his stomach heave in protest between the mess he had just crawled through on the floor and the horrid aroma that had just engulfed him. He almost lost it right there under the table; not that it would have made much difference considering. Thankfully the large man got up and moved away. After a few moments of kneeling there with his hand on his stomach and the other over his mouth in an effort to keep his breakfast where it belonged, he tried lifting the cloth again to plot his next move.

The next attempt was far more successful than the last. There were two suits of armor standing on pedestals against the wall between Will and the doorway to the great hall leading to the drawbridge. Carefully making sure no one was looking that way, he crawled out from under the table and behind the first suit, standing up quickly so that it blocked the view of anyone who might look in that direction. So far this was looking quite promising. The top of Will's head slowly appeared over the shoulder of the armor and his eyes scanned the room to see if anyone noticed. As it was apparent they had not, he took two steps sideways to the left behind the second suit, his toe slightly bumping the pedestal on which it sat.

It hadn't made any noise, so he thought he had gotten away with it, however as Will looked down he saw not all was well with Sir Knight. This particular suit was holding a sword by the hilt in its right gauntlet with the tip resting on the pedestal. Wilhelm's brown eyes grew large and the blood all but drained from his face as he watched the hilt leave the gauntlet and as if in slow motion, begin to tip, falling forward away from Sir Knight towards the floor. Will quickly poked his arm out under the arm of the armor and caught the sword just before it was out of reach and holding his breath, carefully replaced the sword back into the gauntlet of Sir Knight. Peering around the shoulder he could see that no one had noticed, but realized he was still holding his breath. He let the air out of his lungs in a relieved rush and his shoulders slumped. That had been far too close for his liking.

'Just a bit farther and freedom awaits', he thought happily as he looked around the corner into the great hall, but his happiness was short lived. The hall had the two guards at the drawbridge as expected and a few courtiers wandered about taking in the fresh air from the open door, but it also lacked something that made Wilhelm very disappointed. No hiding places! Now what was he going to do? He had nowhere to go at this point and he was beginning to lose all hope of getting out of the castle.

Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Hanging on the wall just around the corner was a large shield bearing the King's crest and crossed behind it was a sword and a spear. It was what was hanging off the tip of the spear that made Will smile broadly. Someone had thoughtlessly hung a long cloak with a hood from the spear as if it were dumped there during the revelry. Wilhelm was ecstatic as he pulled the cloak down off the spear and pulled it around the corner behind the armor where he was hiding and quickly put it on. Nothing left now but to head for the open drawbridge, freedom and if he were still alive, his brother Jakob!

Not to seem too anxious to leave, Will slipped out from behind the armor and casually drifted around the corner into the great hall. He began wandering around among the few courtiers that were in the hall and slowly meandered his way towards the open drawbridge as if he were just waking up and getting his bearings. Now just a few feet from the door he slyly looked around to see if anyone has noticed him and to his relief it seemed that no one had. Will took one step forward towards the door and freedom.

"I see that my cloak has grown feet and its leaving without me", boomed a great voice from behind him, "and they're tiny ones at that!"

The voice was that of the rather large man that had "perfumed" Will earlier in the throne room. For some unknown reason, he froze in his tracks instead of bolting out the door. He would certainly damn himself later for being such a girl and panicking the way he did. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at the cloaked figure as two guards appeared beside him as if out of nowhere, to pull back the hood and expose the thief.

Will's posture failed him as they grabbed him up and began to drag him back to the King who would certainly throw him in the dungeon this time. He had nothing else he could do but admit defeat. The guards however, didn't even bother to take him to the King; they simply began dragging him to the dungeon. Presumably the King had already left a standing order for them to do so, knowing full well he would never give in that easily and another escape attempt would be made.

However, Will had slightly miscalculated how long his stealthy little journey would take and as they entered the throne room, the church bells began to chime in the noon hour. As the guards escorted him towards the doorway from the throne room that led to the dungeon, Will knew he no longer had a chance. Even if he did get loose, there would be no time to get to the dungeon, the drawbridge or the tower room. The past few days had lead to nothing but failure.

They had just reached the top of the stairs leading down to the jail cells below the castle when the chimes stopped and the air was filled with fiddle music coming from the room beyond. Will knew that there was now little he could do and he would be lost to the spell. The saddest part was that he really did like parties, drinking and pretty women to dance with and would take any opportunity he could to enjoy them, but at this moment his mother's words came back to him from when he was a small child.

"Be very careful what you wish for Wilhelm, for you may find that the having in not nearly as satisfying as the wanting."

The urge to go to banquet was too much for the three of them to ignore and dutifully they headed back towards the music. When they reached the throne room, Will found that he was quite aware of what was going on around him, but it seemed as if the guards didn't really care anymore and they just joined right in as if it were a natural thing to do. 'Perhaps because they have been at this for so long, they've long since given up caring', thought Will.

As if being compelled by some unseen force, he could not help but join the banquet. As a servant walked by with a tray laden with cups of wine, Will grabbed one as it passed by and turned around in a complete circle in an effort not to spill his drink. By the time he had come to a stop, he had already drank nearly half the cup. The effect of the wine was fairly immediate and he began to feel quite giddy. Either that or it was the spell, he really couldn't tell which, not that he cared at the moment really.

A young man about Will's age came over to him and draped his arm around Will's neck. The young courtier had fluffy blond hair and deep blue eyes and was quite handsome. If was apparent that he had been hitting the wine quite heavily in a very short period of time and Will wrinkled up his nose and blinked rapidly as the smell of the alcohol on his breath invaded his face at close range.

"Welcome to banquet my friend!" the young man said drunkenly as he waved his cup about spilling bits of wine in the process. "I thought you never arrive!"

Apparently what happened while you were not under the spell wasn't remembered while you were under it, for the young man apparently didn't recall Will was supposed to be a prisoner and not a party guest and he wondered if the opposite were true as well. He supposed he would find out tomorrow.

"Eat, drink and have a good time my friend, for tomorrow we may die!" puffed the young man into Will's face, "And I predict that good time may be yours very soon, eh?"

He had nodded towards the back of the room and Wilhelm's gaze followed. There near the back wall stood a group of young girls who were giggling and whispering back and forth amongst themselves as they stared and smiled in his direction. The young man hugged him tightly with the arm he had draped around his neck and moved off in search of another glass of wine. A servant came by with a tray laden with food distracting Will from the group of ladies.

"Fruit sir?"

"Um…no… thank you."

When Will turned back around he was taken aback by the fact that he was now surrounded by the bevy of beauties. There were blonds, brunettes and even a redhead. Tall and short, buxom and lithe, all were as young and beautiful as any man could have wished for.

"Well, hello ladies", said Will, as a cautious smile spread across his face.

They all giggled at once and then moved in toward him vying for a position to take his arm, touch his shoulders or smooth his hair; all the while smiling at him and giggling. Will went round from face to face saying hello to each of them, one at a time. It appeared that the female courtiers were thrilled at having a new toy to play with in their midst.

The thought that this might not be so bad after all was beginning to form in his mind. Will did some quick math in his head and the answer he came up with made his quite pleased. 'There are nine of them and I have but nine days left', he thought to himself as he smiled broadly and surveyed the gift the spell had left him with. "Huh, one for each night", he said out loud feeling quite pleased.

As the banquet went on into the night, "King" Wilhelm held court with his newly found harem and any thought of escaping or his brother were soon forgotten. Even though he was now thoroughly under the spell he was still aware of the fact that he only had a short time left to enjoy himself, but at this point his only thought was that if he were going to die, at least he was going to die a happy and well satisfied man.

* * *

Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. I love hearing what you have to say, so please keep letting me know what you think.


	13. The Waltz of the Flowers

You see, it wasn't so bad for Wilhelm after all. Even though he's stuck in that awful spell, he'll be much too busy at banquet to worry so much and at least he isn't in the tower all alone any more or in the dungeon with the rats! Now wouldn't that have been just terrible? Oh, would you be so kind as to put the kettle on for more chocolate? Yes, thank you, that's a good lad. So where was I? Oh yes. Well, Jakob is about to be on his way to the old witch's castle, but first he has a task to complete. He is about to find out just how beautiful the world can be and nothing is as beautiful as...

**The Waltz of the Flowers**

Jakob sat perched on a tree stump with his head in his hands, studying his boots. Every wrinkle in the leather and every grain of sand and mud looked like the deepest valleys and highest mountains that seemed insurmountable to him, like the task at hand. He was tired and was at a loss as to what to do now. With his brother so far away locked in the tower and Frederick and Katherine gone he was alone with no one to turn to for advice or ideas but himself. At this point he was still three days away from the castle and had no idea how he was going to rescue everyone and was at a total loss as to what to do next.

"Fear not! You are not alone Master", said the ugly little man, shaking Jake from his thoughts and leaving him wondering just how he could read them. "You still have two wishes left. What is your bidding Master?"

"I've no idea what my next wish should be. Sweet Christ, I've no idea who I am or what I'm even doing here anymore!" He'd felt an overwhelming sadness and guilt ever since he had fallen into the well as well as a strange emptiness. He hadn't felt like this since the months after he had lost his dear sister and it was almost too much to bear. "Oh, I just wish I knew how to save everyone, but I don't!" he blurted out without thinking, lost in his despair.

"Very good, Master. That's number two", said the little man.

"Oh no!" shouted Jakob in a panic, standing up and waving his hands at the little man. "That's not good at all!"

The little man just smiled his crooked smile at him. Jake was sure he hadn't said that right and now he had wasted a wish and most probably his most precious commodity, his time. He slumped back down on the tree stump and sighed loudly.

"I will tell you this only once". The little man told him seriously, "So pay attention!"

Jakob looked at him over the top of his glasses and frowned as he listened intently to the little man's words.

"Go climb a tree", he said flatly.

Jakob was now absolutely sure he'd thrown his only real opportunity to do the right thing out the window with his sanity. Now what was he to do?

"What do you mean 'go climb a tree'? Ach, this is just horrible!" Jake stood up with his hands outstretched, his face pleading and looking as if he would go to tears at any moment.

The little man only pointed to a tall pine tree a few paces away and nodded towards it as well. Jake saw little choice and followed the instruction. He had nothing else left to lose, save his own life and even that didn't feel like it was worth too much at the moment. When he had reached the top, he looked down expecting to see the little man gone leaving him to sit in a tree like a fool, but he was still there looking up at him.

"Look to the West", the little man said, "There you will see the tallest tree in this forest. That is where you must go. Just beyond that you will find the clearing where all manner of beautiful flowers grow. Look for the one with the petals of the purest white and the heart of a pearl. There is a trick to seeing them though, for they will not appear to just anyone. You must answer one question of the fairies that guard them and answer carefully. You must answer truthfully anything they ask of you and the flower will be yours. Touch the flower to the golden cage to free your love."

Jakob could see the tree towering well above the others in the forest. It was at least another days travel away. Looking to the North he could see the castle looming before him on the ragged hillside and he knew this would delay his arrival there, but it had to be done. Climbing back down, a thought struck him and he peered at the little man with a puzzled look.

"What did you mean by 'free my love'?" asked Jake, pointing at the little man and squinting at him over the top of his glasses. Pushing them back up with his index finger, he tried to sound serious in his explanation, but with his hands flying about punctuating every half finished sentence, his frustration at trying to sound serious was showing in a very comical way. "I'll have you know I'm doing this to free the Princess that's held there, so I can take her back to her father, break this nasty spell and get my brother Wilhelm out of prison. It has nothing to do with any one girl, you know. Just the Princess…who is a girl actually… and if it did, which it doesn't, then really…in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't be so important…as important, or really…you know, well… she is important to me…but not in a way that…well maybe not that so much…and I don't have any bloody idea why I'm explaining this to you at all."

He threw his hands up in the air in exasperation and planted them on his hips. He hung his head and began to study his boots once again. The little ugly man just smiled his crooked smile at Jakob knowing better than he what his real priorities were. Jakob's little dance of denial just made him want to smile wider. After all, had he so quickly forgotten that he was there when Jake found Katherine in her glass tomb?

"If that is all for now Master please take out the little box with the blue light and open the lid so that I may jump back in and rest." asked the little man. "When you need me again, for your final wish, just open the box and I will appear."

Jakob was glad the little man let him out of any further explanation and removed the glass box from his pants pocket. As he opened the box, there was a bright blue flash and the little man disappeared. The lid of the box snapped shut with a sharp clack and the little golden latch clicked closed. In the daylight, he could barely see the blue glow from the box. Jake grabbed his pack off the ground from next to the tree stump where he had been sitting and carefully placed the box inside. Then making sure he was altogether, he threw the pack over his shoulder and made off through the forest towards the big tree.

Jakob traveled as fast as his long legs would carry him. Even with taking no breaks it took a better part of a day to reach the tree, but at last he found it. Old and gnarled, the magnificent oak towered above the forest; its base was big enough that if it were hollow, a man could make a home inside it quite comfortably. From its huge base between two roots the size of the other trees that surrounded it, sprung a pool of water so clear and fresh Jakob couldn't help but want to drink from it. Even the air around it smelled so pure and fresh he could only imagine this was what heaven smelled like.

He sat near the edge of the pool and ate the last bit of food he had in his pack, a small piece of dark bread. The rest of it unfortunately had gone off in Fred's pack into the gingerbread house earlier, so he had to make do. When he had finished, he drank deeply from the spring and amazingly he felt as if he had eaten a banquet full of food and he was refreshed and invigorated as if he had slept for a week. His sudden boundless energy was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Following the path of the spring as it flowed away from the tree, he hunted for the clearing where the flowers were to be found. About fifty paces from the old oak, Jakob came across a large clearing in the forest just where the little man said it should be and as he said, it was decidedly empty save for a few weeds here and there. Jakob looked about wondering just how one goes about finding fairies, since it had really never occurred to him before that one could. He also pondered what sort of question a fairy might ask.

He wasn't left to ponder very long however. In the scrubby bushes off to his left, tiny golden lights began to appear and flicker brightly even though the sun was still up. The lights came toward him and were flitting around him like tiny golden snowflakes on a breeze. It was a marvelous sight to behold. Jakob adjusted his glasses and squinted, trying to concentrate on them and get a better look. They were lithe creatures, both male and female as far as he could tell and wondrously beautiful to behold.

"Hello", he said softly, but the sound of his voice still made them scatter in surprise.

"He can see us!"

"He can see us!"

"He can see us!"

The tiny voices of the fairies repeating the words came from different directions making Jake look around to find the speakers, but their constant movement made that an impossible task.

"He drank from the spring!"

"He drank from the spring!"

"He drank from the spring!"

The chorus continued as they flitted about his head and shoulders. Jakob decided to stop trying to follow their movements. It was making him extremely dizzy.

"Call the Queen!"

"Call the Queen!"

"Call the Queen!"

A warm glow formed the hedgerow where the other fairies had first appeared. It was larger than the others, floating slowly toward Jakob. The glowing globe pulsated slowly as it stopped and hung in front of his face. He reached out to touch it, but it moved away.

"Ahem, well yes…I suppose that won't work", he said to himself as he pulled his hand back and used it to rub the back of his neck.

He rested his other hand on his hip and studied the glowing orb, his face scrunched up in thought. After a few moments he supposed he would try something a little less threatening. In a more inviting gesture and to show he meant no harm, he turned his hand over, palm up and held it out in front of him hesitating every few inches so as not to frighten it away again. The glowing orb came to rest in the palm of his hand and as the glow faded, a sight even more wondrous met his eyes. A tiny fairy stood in his hand. She was only three inches high and captivatingly beautiful with wings as tall as she was. They looked as if they were made of golden lace. She was also quite naked except for a gauzy strip of fabric that was draped around her hips and the scepter she carried, whose tip glowed like a torch. Jakob was so taken with her and the wonder of it all; he nearly forgot the task at hand. If she hadn't spoken, he might have forgotten the entire quest altogether.

"What is your name and what do you seek here?" she asked in a voice so soothing and melodious that to listen to it lulled the listener into a dreamlike state.

Jakob let out a sigh and a silly smile spread across his face. He was beginning to feel quite giddy, but at the last second he realized that this might be the important question he had to answer, so he tried his best to focus. 'It couldn't be too hard, after all I am a truthful man', he thought. He cleared his throat and placing his other hand in the center of his chest trying to look as noble as possible, began to explain.

"My name is…is Jakob Grimm", he said carefully, "I seek…", he paused for a moment to make sure it came out sounding right, "I seek the flower with the petals of pure white and the heart like a pearl to…to…free the Princess and break the evil spell that has been cast over this land and…and so that my brother may be freed from his prison as well". 'That should do', he thought.

"Who do you truly love?" she asked not missing a beat.

"Uh well, I um…", faltered Jakob. He swallowed hard, unsure of what to say to that and half afraid he would get it wrong.

"Who do you truly love?" she repeated, "Remember, you must answer truthfully or you must leave this place with nothing more than you have now."

Jakob was beside himself, so truly befuddled for an answer he couldn't think at all. Embarrassment welled up inside him making his cheeks turn pink. He decided to stick to the true reason for his starting this whole thing, thinking it was best to stay focused on the real objective instead of silly whims of the heart. After all, he'd only kissed her once and what did that mean really? No, he had to stay on track. With his mind flipping back and forth like a fish in the mud and a strange kind of panic overtaking him, he blurted out an answer.

"Will! It's Will, my brother!" he spouted as he pulled his hand from his chest and extended it towards her in a begging gesture, his face pleading with the fairy Queen to accept the statement as truth.

The fairies flitted and danced around him giggling and laughing at his pose. The Fairy Queen only smiled at him sadly, only kindness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Jakob, but the flower cannot be yours. Your answer had to be a truthful one and even though you do love your brother very much, he is not the one you truly love"

"He lied!"

"He lied!"

"He lied!"

The fairies danced around him as the Queen rose from his hand and waved her scepter as a farewell before returning to the hedgerow from where she had first appeared.

"Good-bye!"

"Good-bye!"

"Good-bye!"

The fairies clustered together in a small group and followed their Queen back to the hedgerow. Jakob just stood there with his mouth hanging open, stunned at what had just occurred. Then quickly reality kicked in. He had apparently not told the truth and had now lost the flower he so desperately needed.

"No wait! I'm sorry!" he pleaded as he followed the cloud of lights, "Please no, I need those flowers! Wait!"

In an act of sheer stupidity and desperation he reached out and grabbed hold of one of the fairies. Jake had a young male fairy gently trapped between his thumb and forefinger and it was not very pleased about it. It promptly bit him on the thumb, hard. Jakob immediately let go and ended up flinging the poor fairy several feet across the clearing.

"Ouch!" yelled Jake as he shook his hand vigorously from the pain, then stuffed his thumb in his mouth and sucked on it. After pouting for a few moments, he examined his thumb for blood, but found none. It stung wildly like he'd been bitten by bee, so he stuck it back into his mouth to ease the pain. He wondered if anyone had ever died due to a fairy bite and though he had never heard of it, he certainly hoped he wasn't going to be the first.

Looking around the clearing, he was lost as to what to do now. He couldn't imagine why the Queen didn't think his answer was truthful enough. After all he did love his brother very much despite all the bullying and arguments throughout the years. He had grown quite fond of Katherine, but love her? He had only known her a few weeks, how could he possible love her? It didn't make sense in his head, but that was the whole problem. When he answered the question he had given the answer that made sense in his head, not his heart. He began pacing around the clearing with his thumb still in his mouth trying to work out how he was going to fix this. He had made a royal mess of everything.

'Oh you've screwed it well this time Jakob Grimm', he thought, 'No flower means the Princess can't be saved and my brother will die, Fred will be eaten and Kate will be stuck in a cage for all eternity! You couldn't have made a bigger mess of things if you had tried!'

He felt the worst for Kate for she was a true innocent in all this and it was his entire fault she was even here. She could have been safe at home now if he had only had the guts to simply say no! Jake felt as if his heart were breaking.

"Damn that witch and her bloody rhyming spell!" shouted Jakob forgetting all about his thumb.

At that moment a light came on in his head illuminating an idea and more or less talking aloud to himself he began formulating it, "Yes, the spell! What if I can use this spell against her? All someone has to do is recite a rhyme and it comes true, so if I choose one of my own it should work in the very same way. At least I think so."

There was nothing left but to try it out and see if he could use it to his advantage. He began running through all the nursery rhymes he remembered from his childhood that involved flowers, but none of them seemed quite right.

"No…No, not that one…not that one either. Come on Jakob, think! Yes, that's it! It's perfect!"

Jakob recited the rhyme and hoped it would have the desired effect.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

How does you garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row!

Jakob waited, but after a few moments it seemed that this idea was not going to work out as he wished it would. He threw his hands up in frustration and turned his back to the clearing now feeling lost. Then something caught his eye. A large yellow butterfly the likes of which he had never seen before meandered past the end of his nose. Had it really worked? Elated he turned around to face the clearing once again.

A fresh, cool breeze had begun to pick up, giving him goose bumps and the warm sun began flooding in. At the same time a heavy mist filled the air clinging to everything as if heavy dew had fallen. From the sun drenched, heavily saturated ground flowers began to spring up of every size, shape and color. Jakob looked down and watched the flowers spring up around his feet. Green, delicate tendrils sprang up and wrapped themselves around his legs, growing quickly up to his knees and as they grew pink and blue bell shaped flowers burst forth from the vines. The clearing was now filled to brimming with hundreds of flowers of every type, size, shape and color. Bees, butterflies and humming birds flew, darted and meandered through the most amazing garden he had ever seen. Most of what appeared before him, he had never seen before even in his dreams and their fragrance was like sheer ecstasy. Jakob felt as if he were transported to the Garden of Eden.

The dewy mist settled on the flowers and they sparkled like jewels in the sunlight. Jakob was overwhelmed beyond words. He raised his hands in front of him as if to embrace the entire scene before him and looked back and forth across the amazing beauty of the garden "Oh…oh…", he said quietly , his breath ragged as he spoke, his eyes filling with tears of joy. "Yes!" he shouted as he threw his hands into the air, "Oh yes!" He let his arms fall limp to his sides in great relief that yes indeed, it had worked.

The fairy Queen reappeared and floating near his ear, she whispered softy to him, "Dear Jakob, your heart has told me all I needed to know even when your voice could not. What you seek is there." She pointed her scepter to the right side of the garden, the torch like tip illuminating a small patch of white flowers that were nestled between deep blue patches of forget-me-nots sitting near the water that flowed from the spring.

In all his excitement Jakob has quite forgotten the vines that wrapped themselves around his feet and legs. In trying to take a step towards the flowers, he found himself stuck and nearly fell on his face awkwardly.

"Oh, right", he laughed nervously and carefully unwrapped himself so as not to damage the delicate vines that embraced him.

He picked his way just as carefully through the garden so as not to crush anything underfoot and knelt down in front of the patch of flowers. They resembled the small lilies that bloom after the spring rains except that they were radiantly pure white like the gown of a virgin bride. The centers had collected a large drop of dew from the mist that had filled the clearing and it shone in the sun like a perfect great pearl.

"You only need one to free them all. As long as your heart remains pure and honest the flower will never die", The Queen told him.

Jakob smiled shyly at her and nodded. He wondered just how he was going to go about carrying the flower away and an idea suddenly hit him. He fished around in his pack for a moment or two and came up with a small earthen pot with a wide mouth and a cork lid. It was one of Katherine's pantry jars that she had packed and it once contained honey. As it was now empty, he thought it would be perfect. Tossing the cork into his pack, he washed the jar carefully in the little stream then after filling it with earth; he carefully dug up one of the flowers and planted it in the jar. Oddly the flower felt as if it was made of the finest crystal and really wasn't a plant at all. When he had finished, he placed it in his satchel next to two ink jars to keep it from tipping.

"Thank you for the flower, Your Majesty", he said apologetically, "It was very kind of you to give it to me after what I'd done."

The Queen laughed heartily, "Silly boy! I had nothing to do with it. You did it all yourself!" She floated up and kissed him gently on the forehead making Jakob blush slightly and bite his bottom lip. "As long as my kiss remains, you will be protected until the end of your quest. Farewell Jakob."

In a twinkling she was gone and as he rose to leave he saw that the garden was now also gone. Quickly he checked his satchel and was relieved to find the flower still remained inside. Now his thoughts turned to getting to the castle. It was at least four days off on foot now and Wilhelm's thirty days were sure to run out before he could return with the Princess. What to do now? Well if the rhyme worked before, it surely should again, so Jakob thought hard about which one might be handy in getting to the castle quicker. A rhyme came to him that might be just the thing and he hoped the outcome would be as successful as the last one.

Ride a cocked horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a fine lady upon a white horse;

With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes

She shall have music wherever she goes.

Jakob wasn't exactly sure what he was going to get for his efforts, but he waited patiently for the results. He was rewarded by the sound of tinkling bells coming from the forest beyond. He held his breath as he scanned the tree line looking for the source of the sound and it shot out of him in a loud, long gasp as his eyes fell upon what the he had created with the rhyme.

A fine white stallion, quite a handsome animal indeed, cantered out of the forest. It long white mane and tail had been carefully braided with gold and sliver rings though them. It bore a blue saddle of handcrafted leather, the color of the late twilight sky, edged with silver and crimson cord set with tiny rings that tapped together as the horse walked making a most beautiful tinkling sound. The bridle was equally beautiful and small silver bells adorned the leather straps. The animal made Jakob's horse, as grand as it was, look like an old plow horse; that is before it had become enchanted and died. He had missed riding him a great deal.

However the horse bore something else as well. It seemed the fine lady was part of the package and she wasn't just any lady. Tall and willowy, she sat in the saddle, her eyes as blue as the skies and her hair golden as the sun. She was barefoot and her big toes were adorned with a silver rings with a small silver bell attached. On each of her fingers was the same, however, that is all she wore. Jakob looked away embarrassed as he realized that her long golden hair that fell to her knees was the only thing that kept him from seeing things he shouldn't. He cleared his throat and nervously began to speak to her all the while having what seemed to be a conversation with her right foot, for looking up at her was quite out of the question for him.

"Um…hello", he began.

"Why hello", she replied sounding a bit forward.

"Ooo dear…um well yes", Jakob was fidgeting nervously trying to get the words out, "If…if you don't mind, I need to borrow your horse. I need to get to the castle on that hillside yonder in a great hurry, so it's really important that I ride your horse. That is if you don't really mind of course."

A small, slender hand came into his field of vision, palm up, as if inviting him to take it. He looked at it nervously. Her foot slipped from the stirrup, bells tinkling.

"Well of course you may ride", the lady purred, "I will take you anywhere you wish to go. Take my hand and we'll be off."

Jakob had little choice. It was either that or steal the horse from her and of all the slightly shady things he'd done in his life under Will's direction, horse thievery wasn't one of them and he wasn't about to start now. He swallowed hard and took her hand, placed his foot in the vacated stirrup and tried his best to mount the horse; all the while keeping his eyes averted from the lady.

"Best to hold on tight", she cautioned, "My Rapunzel flies like the wind."

'Oh dear!' he thought. That part hadn't occurred to him before he had gotten on.

"What should I hold onto?" he asked lamely, "Perhaps we could do this some other way." But it was too late for further discussion. The lady dug in her heels and shouted at the horse. It reared back, neighing loudly and took off at a speed that Jake had never seen a horse accomplish before. It was as if its hooves never touched the ground, but literally flew through the air. He had little choice than to hold on to her around the waist or be thrown backward off the rear of the horse.

Despite being quite embarrassed about this turn of events, he found himself quite amused at it all. He couldn't wait to tell Will about it knowing it would make him downright jealous that he could conjure up such a lovely creature out of thin air and he wasn't anywhere around to take advantage of the situation.

They were moving through the forest as if they were the wind and nothing could get in their way. It almost seemed the trees and bushes magically moved out of their way to let them through. Jake was sure at this rate he would make it to the castle in no time at all.

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This was another of my favorite chapters to write. Jakob is completely in his element now and is busy being, well Jakob! As always, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your reviews.


	14. The Three Caged Hearts

Wasn't Jakob clever thinking of using those rhymes? You know it really wasn't his fault he told a lie the the fairy queen, its just that with everything else going on, he didn't have time to think about how much he really cared for Katherine. What? Oh no, nothing happened to him because of the fairy bite, but he told me it did itch for quite a while afterward and he also told me his brother was very jealous of him and the pretty lady. Grumbled about it for years afterward as I recall. Oh my, speaking of Wilhelm and the others, I suppose I should tell you what was happening to them all this time shouldn't I? All right then, this is a part of the story that is rather sad I think and its called...

**The Three Caged Hearts**

Wilhelm awoke the next morning to the bright fall sun pouring in on his face. At least he thought it was the next morning. He had quite lost track of the days since he had fallen under the spell. Like all the others, he had fallen asleep where he had been sitting last and he noticed that his head seemed to be bobbing up and down slowly. He opened one eye and looked to see what could possibly be causing such a thing. In surprise he opened the other and stared down his nose. It seemed when he had fallen asleep; his head had lolled over onto the very ample bosom of one of the more hefty female courtiers. Definitely not one of the many beauties that had been swarming around him during the party, it seems they had scattered off elsewhere.

Slowly and carefully Will tried to sit up without disturbing the lady who was still sound asleep, but found that his face had become stuck to her dress. It seems he had drooled quite a bit in his sleep causing his cheek to stick to her like glue. Slowly he peeled his face away from her and rubbing his cheek, he worked his jaw back and forth to loosen it up. His neck also felt a bit stiff as well. Another drawback to falling asleep where one stands or in Will's case sits. There was a nasty row of dents in his cheek as well that he recognized as coming from the pearls that were sewn to the bodice of her dress. At this point it was also obvious he had one huge hell of a hangover. He leaned forward onto the banquet table before him with his head in his hands, his mouth felt like cotton and his head thumped. Will had no idea how long he'd been at this and he really just wanted it all to stop.

Looking up he caught sight of the open drawbridge and a few of the castle's inhabitants milled about taking in the fresh air. The urge to leave was too much to bear and he headed through the great hall in a hurry to get out of the castle quite forgetting he couldn't leave. He breezed past an older man who was standing in the hall lighting his pipe. He, as well as the others in the hall, seemed as if they couldn't care less about his leaving as apposed to the times before. He did notice, however, Will's speed at which he was approaching the open door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", he said casually as he puffed on his pipe.

Wilhelm paid him no heed at all and ran for the open door. He promptly ran into what seemed to be a glass wall and the impact threw him backward onto the floor. With a rather shocked look on his face Will stood up and touched the invisible wall in several places, wondering how on earth this could be happening. A refreshing, light breeze was blowing in the door, but try as he might, his hand couldn't pass through the other way.

As if fascinated by this discovery, he wondered if it applied to windows as well. Rushing past the smoking man again, he made for a rather large window.

"Already tried that as well", said the man flatly, blowing a couple of lazy smoke rings.

Will found that he couldn't even get close enough to touch the stained glass in the window with his hand let alone try to break it and make his escape. He turned and headed for the throne room to try various windows and doors there.

"Already tried that too" the man said matter-of-factly as he puffed away.

Will also found these blocked as well. He stood there rubbing his temples trying to think, but the headache wouldn't let him. The smoking man had followed him into the throne room and in an amused way was watching him fuss with the exits.

"Better get ready. It will be that time again soon", he said as if he was resigned to it all, "Don't worry yourself too much. After a couple more days, you'll get used to it."

The man wondered off the take a seat on the steps that led to the throne. Will didn't want to get used to it, he wanted out. However, he knew he had acted foolishly during his final attempt. Now he had little choice and he knew it. It then became apparent it had been more that just a few days he had been at this as a rather pungent smell reached his nose.

"Gah, I reek!" he said in a disgusted tone.

Seemed a little washing up was in order and having no room of his own Wilhelm went about finding one he could "borrow" for a bit. Wandering down the hallways he stopped at a door and politely knocked to see if anyone was there. The door opened and a man stood in the doorway. He was dressed in lace and silk and holding a lace handkerchief in the tips of his fingers. Will stared at him for apparently he had also rouged his cheeks and lips. The man smiled at him in a way that was almost flirty.

"Why hello there", the man cooed at him and then moved aside to let Will enter.

"Oh sorry. Beg you pardon, never mind", stuttered Will as he quickly backed away from the door.

The man shrugged and closed the door as Will stumbled down the hall, turning to look back once and feeling a bit disturbed by the whole meeting. Being distracted he simply opened the next door he came to, without knocking this time, with disastrous results. A woman was standing there in her under clothes as a lady-in-waiting was helping her undress. The woman screamed at the sight of Will standing in the doorway staring at her and it gave him such a fright that he screamed back at her sounding even more girlish than she did. He quickly shut the door feeling even more disturbed than before.

"Scheiße!" he swore under his breath, "Sorry, wrong room!" he shouted through the door and made his way further down the hall.

At the third door he tapped lightly and backed away not sure what he would find this time, but no one answered, so he slowly opened the door and happily found this one empty. 'Ah, just right', he thought. Stripping off his shirt he began to wash up and after he had finished he was pleased to find some fresh clothes in the armoire that fit him rather well. He supposed the owner would never notice them missing given their circumstances. He stuffed his old clothes under the bed and prepared to leave. Just as he reached for the doorknob the door flew open and the owner of the room stepped in backing Wilhelm up a few steps. It was the young man that had welcomed him to banquet the first day. He wasn't so friendly now and he frowned at finding Will in his chambers uninvited and wearing his clothes no less.

"What are you doing here?" the man shouted, "Coming in here uninvited, using my washstand?" He looked Will up and down, "and stealing my clothes!"

The young, blond courtier made a move to throw Will out, but he was way ahead of him. He put his hands up in a weak defensive gesture and skirted around to the man's left. As the man made a swipe for him, Will ducked, bolted out the door and ran down the hall back to the throne room. The man didn't bother to follow, so Will sat down at one of the tables with a sigh, propping his head up with one of his hands. His head still felt a bit fuzzy, so he found a cup and poured a bit of wine in it. He took a sip hoping that some of the "hair of the dog that bit him" might make him feel a little better and at the very least help him not care so much about it all.

As the bells began to toll in the noon hour once again, Will sat at the table with his head in his hands feeling frustrated. By the time the bells had finished he no longer remembered what had happened earlier and had begun to dance with the sweet young girl with the red curls. At that point as long as the party kept going, nothing else really mattered.

************

A cold wind blew the dry, dead leaves across the barren, cold ground as the trio approached the small castle. The figure in front moved quickly and purposely, but the two following moved as if they were in a trance, their eyes focused on the figure in front of them like dogs following their master.

The door opened before them of its own accord and they entered the castle's tiny entrance hall. The lead figure pushed back the hood of the cloak she wore and turned to face the others. The old witch had returned to her guise of the beautiful enchantress to help maintain the spell she had put over them. Katherine and Frederick just smiled at her stupidly.

"Now here we are", she cooed, "let's get settled in shall we and then we can get to that meal I promised both of you earlier,"

"Oh, that would be very nice", replied Frederick, "Not meaning to sound rude, but I am rather hungry."

"Oh not at all", she laughed, "come, follow me."

She led them through the castle and into the kitchen and proceeded to shackle Fred to the wall next to the stove. He obediently sat down on a pile of straw she had left for him. Kate just stood there smiling at him not even realizing what was going on. The witch brought out a tray laden with rich foods and placed it on the floor before Frederick. Like a man who hadn't eaten in days, Fred began gobbling down the food without hesitation.

"That's it, eat all you want", the old witch cooed, "We need you to be nice and fat for our Equinox feast, now don't we."

While Fred stuffed himself, she led Kate away through a side door and upstairs to the tower. As Frederick ate hungrily, pushing food into his mouth with his hands, the feeling that something wasn't quite right came over him. He stopped and looked at the piece of roast meat in his hands, then to the shackles on his wrists and it suddenly hit him. He had been captured by the witch and was now a prisoner in her kitchen! Dropping the meat back onto the tray and spitting out the piece that was in his mouth in disgust, he looked around helplessly.

"Kate?" he called out hoping for an answer, "Jakob?"

He realized he was alone with no one to help him. Despondently he leaned against the cold stone wall and hugged himself tightly as tears filled his eyes. If he were alone it could only mean one thing.

"They're dead, I know they are", he sobbed, "and it's all my fault! Why did I have to be so selfish as to have to see the Princess one last time? Why did I have to insist on going with Jake and why, oh why did I let Kate come with us? Why? Oh, this is horrible, just horrible! I'm so sorry Jakob, you're dead and now your brother will be too. All because of my foolish pining heart! Dear sister, you were ever so right. You always are. I should have listened to you, but no. I couldn't do that and now you're dead too! I'm so sorry Kate, I'm so sorry!"

He pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, swallowing hard and breathing deeply to keep his tears in check. He could hear the birds cooing coming from the tower above and a faint glimmer of hope came to him. 'The birds, yes!' he thought. His sister could still be alive, turned into one of the witch's birds and of course this meant that Jakob would just have to come and rescue her in short order. 'Of course Jakob would never allow my sister to remain captive', he thought, 'He's very clever and he had to have survived. He'll come and rescues us, I know he will!'

There was nothing he could do but hold on to that faint glimmer of hope. He was still sure this whole mess was his fault entirely even though in reality most of it wasn't. Still feeling immensely guilty over the whole thing, he buried his face in his knees and rocked back and forth on the pile of straw.

"I am an idiot! I am such an idiot; I'm the king of idiots! I am. I am. I am!"

************

The witch led Katherine up the stairs and into the large, round tower room. Kate's eyes stared blankly around the room taking in surroundings. Past the windows that were spaced out around the room, past all the golden cages that hung from the ceiling, each containing a white dove with blue wingtips. All save one.

The witch stopped in front of that cage and taking Kate by the shoulders, turned her to face it and opened the tiny golden door.

"Now all that remains is to place you in your cage my dear and my plan shall be complete!" said the witch as she slowly walked around Katherine as if inspecting her. "Then with the coming of the Equinox I shall rule this land with an iron hand and everything in it will be mine for the taking!"

Slowly Kate was becoming aware of what was going on around her. She heard her brother's voice calling to her and she wanted to cry out, but she found she could not move from where she stood. She heard him call for Jake and she knew he wasn't there, 'At least he's safe', she thought, 'He'll come for us, I know he will!' Although she was frightened, she tried to be as brave as she could and refused to cry. Considering all she had been through up to now, she couldn't give in now. Except for one thing, this time she was alone.

"Yes, you are alone aren't you?" taunted the old witch as she read the fear in her eyes, "No brother around to save you and especially not your precious Jakob! Trust me my dear, that troublemaker has left this world. Oh yes, I've seen to it personally. Your knight in shining armor now lies rusting at the bottom of a well, quite dead!"

Throwing her head back she laughed wickedly, pleased at her self for making her plan come together and if someone had to die to make it happen well, then all the better.

"Let's see to getting you settled in, shall we?"

Stepping back away from Kate, the witch took a small bottle containing a blue liquid out of the pocket of her skirt. It was all that Katherine could do now not to cry upon hearing the news about Jakob. She felt as if her heart had broken into a million tiny pieces and she could scarcely breathe. It would have hurt much less if the old witch had thrust a sword through her heart.

Tossing the bottle at Kate, the witch cast her spell over her. She never heard the words she spoke for a thick blue and white mist engulfed her where she stood. When it finally cleared away a white dove with blue wingtips sat in the once empty cage. However this one differed from the others. A small purple mark stood in the center of its chest where Kate's broken heart once was.

The old witch closed the cage door, not noticing the mark and poured birdseed into the tiny gold cup inside the cage.

"That should hold you", she said gleefully as she turned and walked away.

The little Kate-dove cooed mournfully in her golden cage as she stared out the window towards the setting sun.

* * *

I wrote this little chapter to get everyone up to speed as to where everyone was in the story. Jakob is now very close to the witch's castle and now the final chapters can begin. It's not over by a long shot and Jake still has quite a bit of work ahead of him the make things right, that is, if he can. Hope you are enjoying this so far and as always, reviews are quite welcome. Thanks for reading.


	15. Jakob and The Enchanted Lake

Oh my, things aren't looking too good for our friends are they? Poor Wilhelm getting caught up in that terrible spell and not remembering anything from the night before, Frederick chained in the old witch's kitchen so sure he will become her dinner soon enough and oh my, Katherine! The poor thing's heart was so broken when she thought her dear, sweet Jakob was dead! Oh how sad she was! Why, I remember that when Jakob...oh well, never mind. I'll save that for another time. You know what they say, it always gets worse before it gets better, eh? All right, I suppose you're anxious to find out if Jakob got to the castle or not. Well to begin with I'll tell you what happened along the way starting with...

**Jakob and The Enchanted Lake**

Jakob and the lady were flying like the wind through the forest on Rapunzel. The thing was that Jakob had forgotten that the magic of the rhymes had a limit and at any time they can wear off at any given moment. They had left the forest now and began an all out run down a dirt road. Jake could see they were coming to a crossroads up ahead and wondered which direction the lady would take just a road sign flew by. It read Giftberre Kreuzung. Jake's eyes grew wide as he realized what it said.

"Banburry Cross? Oh no…"

It suddenly hit him as to what was about to happen, but it was too late. They had entered the crossroads and the horse and lady had promptly disappeared. Jakob was now flying through the air at high speed. With a short yelp he landed hard, face first in the dirt and skidded forward several feet before coming to a stop. He lay there for a few moments afraid to move and wondered if anything were broken, his hands and thighs stinging from the skid. Pushing himself up, he spat out dirt and dust that had somehow found its way into his mouth.

"Pah! Agh! Ow!" he sputtered as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

Jakob retrieved his glasses from the dusty road, gave them a quick wipe and put them on. He wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve as he looked around trying to get his bearings. Standing up, he carefully brushed the dirt from his clothes with only his fingers, his palms still stinging a bit from the landing. With one hand on his hip and the other on the top of his head, his fingers entwined in the soft curls, he looked down the road that led to the castle.

From all assessments, he was still the better part of a day away from the castle. He had actually covered two days travel in one day thanks to the rhyme and he would have been there already if it had not been for that Banburry business. How was he to know that it really existed and it happened to be right in the path to the witch's castle? Well, traveling directly down the road wouldn't be terribly smart, he'd been seen in short order and the last thing he needed right now was another go around with the witch, at least not yet at any rate. He thought it best to try and blend in with the forest and hope he didn't get caught. He also hoped she might be a bit too busy to notice him as well as the element of surprise would be crucial with this one. She had the unnerving habit of popping out of nowhere in any form she wanted, so he had to try and trap her in a time and place of his own choosing in order to gain advantage.

Jakob also realized something else as well. That it was now growing dark and that he was very tired. Going straight through would suit him just fine, but trying to free them all and think while exhausted wouldn't do at all. That coupled with the fact that the forest surrounding the castle gave him the chills in the daytime, traveling through there at night, in the dark, was something only a fool might attempt and Jake was no fool when it came to this. He had seen first hand what can happen in an enchanted forest even under the best of conditions and he knew going in at their worst could be deadly.

Resolved to the fact that he would not be able to start for the castle until sunrise, he quickly got off the road and under the cover of the trees, as ragged and sparse as they were here and looked for what at least seemed to be a safe place to spend the night. The forest, such as it was gave Jakob a very unsettled feeling. The dry grass and leaves crunched under foot and the barren tree branches, gnarled and twisted reached up into the twilight sky. Ravens circled over head filling the air with their sharp cries as they searched out a roost for the night and the night air was growing bitterly cold even for this time of year. Jakob frowned and pulled the collar of his jacket up closer. What a miserable place to spend what could be his last night on Earth. He knew there was a great possibility the witch could be the victor in the battle that loomed ahead, but as he walked along he thought that if his brother could stand being locked up in that tower for thirty days then he could stand to spend one night in this cold, desolate place. He would have to stand it, he had no choice; people's very lives depended on it.

The sun was now touching the horizon and he still had found no place secluded or safe enough to make camp. Up ahead, Jake noticed a wall of thick pine trees that looked promising. Oddly, it was the only things around there that looked untouched by whatever had drained the life out of this land. He made for it, hoping for the best.

As he passed the line of pine trees it was as if he had walked into another land. A large open area lay before him surrounded by lush green pines, the brush below them thick with life and the area was lush with small wildflowers. The air there seemed to be much warmer than on the other side of the pine break. In the center stood a small lake and the air hung with a fresh, fog-like mist. Jakob noted that the area was also populated by a rather large gaggle of geese, some paddling slowly on the lake; others nestled down in groups along the shoreline. Thankfully they had made no notice of Jakob and were being peacefully quiet.

Jakob settled down under one of the larger pines, it's soft, fragrant needles would make a fine bed. He didn't dare start a fire for fear of being spotted by the witch, but it was warm enough here that he wouldn't need it to keep warm through the night anyway. His lack of light was answered by a very large, nearly full moon that was rising in tandem with the sunset. It was a harvest moon, if he recalled the name correctly and it hung in the sky like a large, orange dinner plate with a slice removed from one side. He knew that it would be full come the following evening. Peeking over the top of the pines it looked nearly close enough to reach out and touch and he knew that it would nearly as bright as daylight for most of the evening.

The large, orange moon reminded Jakob at the moment of a pleasant memory from the last harvest season in Marbaden. He and Wilhelm had stayed on at Angelika's after everything was over and aside from writing the book, Jakob had been helping out the local school teacher, teaching the children to read. It was a night just like this one, with the bright, nearly full moon that the whole village turned out for the last of the harvest before winter settled in. School had been dismissed for the next day and the next two as well for the older children were also helping in the fields. Jakob smiled to himself as he remembered Will had decided to position himself right in the middle of all the ladies that were clearing the last of the vegetables and fruits for the root cellars, helping them to lift baskets and all the while being his smiling, overly charming self; while he, being one of the tallest in the village was busy building haystacks and bundling wheat for threshing. All the while the children ran about playing in the bright moonlight feeling they were safe as long as the brothers were there. At the end of the night, Jakob would gather them together and carrying the littlest one on his shoulders, he would lead them all back to the village like a mother hen with chicks and make sure they were all returned safely to their parents.

Then there was the celebration afterwards. It was a wonderful party and even though it had taken him most of the night to get up a bit of courage, he finally got to dance with Angelika despite his brother trying to cut in. Oh how he wished he was back there now helping with the harvest instead of sitting here alone in this place waiting to face whatever tomorrow might bring.

At that moment Jakob's stomach decided to growl quite loudly. He rubbed it and frowned.

"Gah, why do you have to trouble me now?" he grumbled as he looked down at it with a sigh.

Perhaps if he were lucky, there might be something in his bags he'd overlooked. After laying out his blanket, he opened his satchel and began taking stock.

"Let's see…journal, two quills, knife, two ink bottles." He grimaced as he noticed the level in each bottle and hoped he wouldn't run out before this was over. "Wouldn't do to not finish the story, now would it Jake."

Setting those aside he found the only thing left inside was the flower. As he lifted it out he saw an amazing transformation had taken place. It had felt somewhat like crystal when he transplanted it into the honey jar, but now Jakob thought the moonlight must be playing tricks with his eyes. The flower was no longer a living thing; it had changed into a rich, white opalescent crystal with a clear multifaceted center. It gleamed like the finest of diamonds and pearls in the ever-brightening moonlight; reflecting it in fiery glints and brilliant flashes as he turned it back and forth in his hands. He was amazed with its beauty and resiliency having no idea that the little flower was only reflecting what was in his own heart. Carefully he placed it back in the bag with the other things and slung it back over his shoulder. He also dug out the box with the blue light and placed it inside. That satchel now contained his most precious possessions and he would never let it leave his side no matter what.

Next he laid out the contents of his pack. He pulled out the hand mirror and looked it over before putting it aside and started piling up coins as he went.

"Mirror, gold pieces, ah, wants this? Couple of pantry jars…bah, empty! Cork, more coins, oh would you look at that, bag of lentils! Wait…can't cook those, no fire…or pot. More coins and…"

The pack was now as empty as his stomach. Jakob sighed and was ready to resign himself to sleeping with that empty stomach when he heard a slight thump behind him. Turning, his eyes fell upon what could at that moment be only called a feast. There was an old apple tree, most of its leaves gone, but it was home to about a dozen small knobby apples. Grabbing his empty pack he stripped that tree of its treasure and after piling the last of his worldly possessions for the moment beside him, he wrapped himself in his blanket, sat and happily ate the apples from his pack.

The moon was much higher now and a ghostly ring was cast around it as it shone brightly through the cold air above. Jakob looked out over the lake and thought how magical it looked as the moonlight caused the mist surrounding it to glow and its light danced over the tiny waves on the water. He reached into his pack and felt around to see if all the apples were gone when his fingers brushed up against something metal. At first he thought it might be another coin, but it didn't feel quite right. Stuffing what was left of the last apple in his mouth; he grabbed his pack and fished the object out with his long fingers.

To his surprise, it was Kate's necklace. He remembered she had always worn it and the day they left was no exception. It was a simple piece of brown cord with a small silver pendant dangling from it. It looked like a small piece of silver ribbon twisted into a diamond shape, engraved inside the twisted ribbon was a rose and a sword, crossed.

'Love, faith and honor', thought Jake.

He remembered Will had asked about it the night they first met. It was one of Will's ways of getting to know about a person so he knew just how to work them and he was good at that, but sometimes he could be honest in his curiosity and Jakob assumed he was being somewhat honest in his inquiry. She had told them that she had admired it one day in a shop window, but it was far more than she could afford. Frederick knew she loved it and he had worked odd jobs to save the money for it for an entire year, so he could give it to her as a birthday gift. It had become her most prized possession, worth more than all of the king's gold and if anything ever happened to it, she would just be devastated.

Now she was separated from it and Jakob couldn't remember exactly when she took it off during their journey and put it there, but if she let him carry her most prized possession, she trusted him very much. Not like when they first met. Oh how she had loathed him back then and he, her. Jake smiled at the thought. So she had told the truth back at the swamp when he asked her if she trusted him and she must have slipped it into his pack while they were washing up afterwards. He fingered the necklace in the moonlight, missing her yet somehow feeling she was right there with him.

Inside the left side of his shirt was a small pocket that was meant to carry a few coins. It had stings to tie it shut and keep thieves from picking your pocket. He placed the necklace in there and tied it shut tightly for safe keeping. Gathering up his things, he placed them back into the pack and he lay down wrapped in his blanket on the soft pine needles.

Jakob had never felt as alone as he did right now. His brother was locked in that tower so very far away and Frederick and Katherine were captive in that awful castle. He could do nothing about either of them until tomorrow, so there he was lying in the middle of a strange wood in a far away land with nothing but a large gaggle of geese to keep him company and even they weren't being too conversational at the moment. He sighed and placed his right hand over heart pressing the tiny, silver pendant from the necklace against his chest and that is how he fell asleep.

When he awoke in the morning, the mist was still thick around him. When he sat up he found that in the middle of the night the geese had surrounded him in a great circle, all facing outward as if they were protecting him. Standing up he thought perhaps if he picked his way through carefully, he could be on his way without stirring them into an uproar and chancing being chased and bitten. Jakob knew full well that geese could become very unreasonable and had somewhat nasty tempers if provoked. However as he tried to make his way through, the geese began honking loudly at him and despite the fact he tried to shoo them away, they persisted. It was almost like they wanted something from him, but he wasn't sure what.

"What? No, shoo! Shoo!…Oh, what is it that you want?" asked Jakob dodging about and holding his hands up in the air for fear of getting his fingers bitten. The fairy had been quite enough for him.

The geese honked back at him as if they were trying to say something, but of course they could not. He became increasingly aware that they might actually be trying to talk to him. After all he had heard enough strange stories and seen enough strange things in his life that this idea wouldn't be out of the question. However, he really didn't have time for this at all. He had to focus on getting to the castle.

"Look I really don't have time for all this. I must get to the castle and free my friends", he realized how ridiculous he must look taking to geese, but there was really no choice, "Now if you don't mind, please let me through!"

The geese closed in around him refusing to let him pass, all the while honking excitedly at him as if to get his attention. Jake just sighed and gave up trying to get past them.

"Oh very well then", he said resigned to his fate, "What do you want from me? Do you want me to do something?"

The geese honked at him loudly and then stopped, as if to answer him. 'Sweet Christ, I'm in the middle of nowhere playing parlor games with a flock of geese!' he thought. Nothing else to do but keep going.

"Do you want me to do something…for you?"

In return he got more excited honks. With one hand on his hip and the other on the back of his neck, his eyes scanned back and forth in frustration over the flock of white geese as if his search would produce a satisfying answer.

"Gah! I wish I understood you. Alright then…well…Food? No, um water? Don't be an idiot, they have an entire lake. Think, Jakob, think! Um…perhaps if I had a hint? Oh…"

He was beginning to feel very foolish and he could only imagine what Will would say if he were there. Nothing terribly kind or brotherly, that was for sure. At that point the geese widened their circle around him, then turned and closed it back up again. Jakob looked very puzzled at this behavior, so the geese repeated the move. A light came on in Jake's head.

"Oh, oh! I see, its something about this place!"

He was rewarded with excited honks.

"You want me to…to…to come back to this place?"

The geese flapped and honked what could only be assumed was approval.

"Oh, right then. I shall return as soon as the girls are all safely back home", he announced sounding satisfied.

This was met with angry honks and rather aggressive behavior.

"Alright, alright then! Watch where you're nipping, thank you! You want me to return sooner?"

The honking was much friendlier this time and Jakob's hands danced through the air punctuating his words as he continued to play the game.

"You…want me to return right after I free the girls?"

More friendly honks as the geese calmed down. Jake took a wild guess at the next question.

"So you…want me to bring everyone back here? Yes?"

Their honking was even more excited now. It seemed he had hit it perfectly. Jakob had no idea just how he was going to pull this one off. He was very short on time as it was, but they had apparently needed help in some manner and turning them down was something that Jakob couldn't find it in his heart to do.

"Yes, alright then…I shall free everyone and then come directly back here. I promise!"

The geese began honking merrily as they pulled back creating a wide pathway for Jakob to reenter the woods and make his way to the castle. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn't one of the strangest things he'd ever been involved in, but it certainly was one of the strangest conversations he'd ever had.

As he stepped through the pine break on the other side of the clearing a thought came to him, 'How will I ever find my way back to this exact place?' That's when he remembered the bag of lentils in his pack and pulled them out. He began to scatter them along to make the path back to the lake, their black color standing out against light brown earth and dried leaves. He thought about how different it was out here in the bleak desolate forest compared to the small, safe place surrounding the lake. 'This place must truly be enchanted somehow and if they need my help, then they shall have it', he thought, 'that is if I survive what is to come.' Despite that fear, he made for the witch's castle with all due haste, scattering lentils behind him as he went.

* * *

First, I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I have been very busy lately helping to promote Terry Gilliam's new movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". It's been a lot of hard work, but I love it. It was Heath Ledger's final film and I felt that I needed to give a little love back in return for all he has given me over the years. See my profile for a link to the support site for the film. Secondly, I would like to thank every one of my readers who have followed my, favorite-ted me or left a review. It's very nice to hear from you and to know you like this story. The reviews are very helpful so please continue to post them. Thanks.


	16. The Seeker, The Witch and The Angel

Well, it appears that the little man was right. It seems that Jakob is finding all he needs to help complete his journey doesn't it? What was that my dear? Oh you don't believe in such things as fairies, little men who live in glass boxes or talking geese? Let me tell you something, there are a great many things in this world that you have never seen or heard of before and this whole world we live in is magic. Enchantment is everywhere and you only need to have the eyes to see it and the ears to hear it and like Jakob, you must also open your heart to it or you will miss everything that is wondrous in your life! Now where was I? Oh yes. Time is growing short for all involved, so things are going to start moving very quickly now. Let me start things off by telling you about…

**The Seeker, The Witch and The Angel**

Jakob had made good time in reaching the castle and he was now climbing the somewhat steep hillside the led up to the castle proper. As he reached the top of the hill, he spread the last of the lentils on the ground and stuffed the sack back into his pack. By this time the sun was well into the west and he knew he would only have a few hours before darkness fell. He had no desire what-so-ever to be out in these woods in the night for they felt as if they were haunted by things he would rather not meet, nor did he have any desire to go fumbling around the castle in the dark either.

Kneeling behind some bushes, Jakob peered around the branches and saw that he was right in front of the main entrance to the castle. It was safer in his mind to go scouting around for another way in. After all barging in the front door, as convenient as it might be, might not be the best plan at this point.

Jake swallowed hard and gathering all the courage he could muster, all else be damned, he went cautiously picking his way through the forest surrounding the castle in search of another way in which the gain entrance.

************

The sun was now high in the sky as the old witch paced back and forth in the tower room, the birdseed crunching beneath her feet and feathers puffing up into the air around the bottom of her skirts like tiny white snowflakes.

"Finally the equinox is upon us", she announced waving her hand in the air, "and when the sun sets, the kingdom will be mine!"

Slowly, one by one she checked each cage that hung from the ceiling of the tower room making very sure that all was in readiness for her plan to succeed.

"Now its time to attend to our other guest, my pets. Preparations must be made for this evenings feast!"

Out the door she went not bothering to close the door and lock it. After all only a fool would try to stop her now and that wretched little pest that was so hard to kill was now nothing more than a rotting pile of bones at the bottom a well. She was sure there was nothing that could stop her plans from coming to fruition.

She breezed into the kitchen with her long, white hair trailing behind her like tattered cobwebs caught in a cold and dusty draft leaking through an old cracked window. Humming to herself, she prepared a large platter of food and sat it in front of poor Frederick who sat on his bed of straw looking forlorn. Picking up the tray she had left for him the night before, the old witch saw he had touched nothing. She shook her head and clicked her tongue at him.

"Now, now", she chided him, "this won't do. You haven't touched a morsel!"

After setting the untouched tray on the cupboard, the old witch returned to Fred and pinched his cheek. She frowned and squeezed his upper arm as if she were checking the freshness of her purchase at a town market. Frederick pulled away from her in disgust.

"No matter, you're plump enough really. You'll make a fine meal to celebrate my taking power over the kingdom. Now enjoy your meal whilst I prepare for tonight's festivities. This is a celebration you know."

The old witch let loose a menacing cackle that was so loud and high pitched that it hurt Fred's ears to hear it.

"Oh, why don't you be quiet you ugly old bag of bones!" shouted Fred. At this point he felt he really had nothing more to lose, so being gutsy couldn't possibly get him in any further. "I hope you dry up to ashes and blow away!"

"Watch you tongue boy", snapped the witch, "or I shall be forced to remove it first!"

He began to feel cocky now and decided to see how far he could push her. All the while he had been shackled in the kitchen he had been formulating plans that used various things available to him to destroy her and as soon as she removed those shackles, he was going to strike. If he made her angry enough, she might become distracted and release him sooner. 'All the better', he thought. He had all the faith in the world that Jake was still alive and would arrive soon. Wouldn't Jakob be impressed when he found out that he had already killed the witch before he got there? He'd be a real hero then.

"Ha, go ahead and try it old crone! You won't be long in this world I can assure you! Just wait until I get my hands on you and take my revenge for what you've done to my sister and if I don't succeed then it will be all the worse because…"

Frederick stopped in mid-sentence and realized what he was about to do. He had almost blurted out the fact that he was sure Jakob was still alive and was coming here to destroy her. For the first time in his life he had used his head for something other than to separate his ears.

"Because what then?"

"Because…because…", he stammered searching for an answer, "because then you will eat me."

Frederick sat back down on the hay in a crumpled, dejected heap; all of his fire inside him burnt out. The old witch laughed as she turned and left him there pouting. Fred watched her as she went about her work. She had filled a giant caldron with water and prepared a large fire beneath it, ready to be lit later on in the evening. She had set out a large basket filled with leeks, onions and carrots and arranged many tiny pots of spices from the cupboard along side them. Pleased with her preparations she then went about sharpening all the knives and cleavers in the kitchen on her grinding wheel. The old witch sang merrily as she worked much to Frederick's dismay. It was like listening to several cats fighting in a sack.

Poor Frederick was beside himself now with despair and nearly in tears as he watched her. He had lost all hope of being rescued by Jakob and was now fairly sure his assumption was false. He knew he would die soon and no one would be there to save him. 'All is lost', he thought despondently, 'and I shall never see my sister or my home again.'

Later that afternoon, she had finished her preparations in the kitchen and in one final act she slammed a clever into a large cutting board on the counter top. The noise was so loud it broke Frederick from his self-pitying reverie and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"There, done!" she announced, "I'm going to feed my precious doves now, but don't you worry. I'll be back later on, just in time for supper!"

Waddling out of the kitchen, her long, white hair flying behind her, she left Frederick there all alone chained to the wall to contemplate his demise which was now only a few hours away.

************

Wilhelm had awoken that morning in a strange bedroom he had never been in before. Sitting up in the oversized bed, he looked around and found he was alone. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the whole situation and not remembering how he could have ended up there, he thought it was best to make a quick exit. Gathering up his clothes he quickly began to dress and headed for the door. On his way out he passed the dressing room just to his right and as he reached for the handle of the bedroom door, a voice called out.

"Leaving already?"

Will stood frozen in his tracks. Something about the voice didn't sound quite right and to his dismay, he was right. A little old woman who could have easily been his own grandmother stepped out of the dressing room and smiled at him in a most uncomfortable fashion. The blood immediately all but drained from Wilhelm's face. Stuttering and sputtering out a few incomprehensible words, he bolted out the door.

"Well, what is he on about?" the old woman wondered aloud.

"I have no idea", said a voice coming from inside the dressing room.

The voice belonged to a tall, willowy brunette. She was adjusting her undergarments as she left the dressing room. She was a buxom beauty with huge, deep brown eyes and full luscious lips.

"Well he clearly had no problem being in your bedchambers last evening m'lady", the old woman laughed.

"Oh no, I dare say he had any problems last night", giggled the beauty with blushed cheeks, "Now help me with my corset please."

"Yes m'lady", the old woman replied shaking her head and snickering to herself.

Will had made it downstairs mostly dressed and had hunted up a bottle of warm wine. He took a long pull and tried to wipe the current wave of thoughts from his mind. He had grown accustomed to not clearly remembering what had happened the night before, but this was too much. What had he done last evening? This was not turning out to be one of his better days. He had finally finished pulling his boots on when the King's guard came for him. All he could think was that word of his last evenings escapade had already become gossip about the castle and now he was about to pay for something he had no knowledge of doing.

"Let me guess, the dungeon…yes?"

He sighed and resigned himself to follow them as they led the way, but they stopped in the throne room instead. Will had lost track of the days and was unaware of what this day would bring.

"Well, it looks as if your dear brother has not fulfilled his part of the bargain Herr Grimm.", announced the King, "He has failed like all of the others or he seems to have taken off for the hills and deserted you. Either way you should make the best of this evening for tomorrow you will be executed as promised." The king leaned forward and looked him straight in the eye, "You really are a conman and a charlatan as the warrants say. Go, clean yourself up and enjoy what little time you have left. At least I have the comfort of knowing that you have suffered this retched curse along with us. Now be gone from my sight!"

As the King rose and left the throne room, everyone wandered away leaving Wilhelm to stand there alone to stare at the King's empty chair. A thousand things ran through his mind and a thousand emotions shot through him. The cold, hard truth had now become very apparent, tomorrow he would be dead and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. He felt panic set into his throat and he could hardly breathe. What had happened to Jakob and why hadn't he come back for him? He knew full well he wouldn't have abandoned him; Jake was not the sort to give up easily when he set his mind to something, especially something as serious as this. That could only mean one thing and he couldn't bare the thought that his brother was dead. That was totally unacceptable in his mind, however if it were true, he would then gladly accept his fate tomorrow morning. Despite all that had happened between them since they were children; the arguments, Jakob's brooding attitude, Will's attempts at getting him the live in the real world somehow even to the point of bullying him, Jakob's infuriating habit of going off half cocked without any sort of preplanning what-so-ever only to try and figure it out as he goes along with sometimes disastrous results. Yes, despite it all he knew his life would not be worth living without his brother.

Wilhelm stared down at his boots resigning himself to his fate when a green velvet skirt framing two golden slippers came into his line of vision. His eyes followed the line of the skirt up until he was looking into the soft brown eyes of the willowy brunette whose room he had, unbeknownst to him, awoken in that morning. To his great surprise she gently cupped his face in her hands and kissed him deeply.

"Thank you for last night", she said softly, her lips just inches from his, "It was heavenly."

Running her fingers down his cheek she moved off and the little old lady who served as her lady-in-waiting followed along behind her giving Will a knowing smile as she passed by. It had now become clear to Wilhelm just what had happened the night before and at least now he didn't feel quite so grungy any more. 'Damn it all!' he thought, 'Why does she recall the last night's events and I cannot?' This selective memory business was really infuriating!

He watched her chatting with some of the other ladies of the court, her smile so sweet and infectious he had no choice but to smile as well. Her laughter, soft and lilting, made everyone else in the room seem to disappear from his sight and he could see only her, the sound of her laughter was replaced with the pounding beat of his own heart filling his ears. A sudden warmth like he'd never felt before spread from his chest up into his cheeks and he felt them flush brightly. At that moment as he looked at this woman, this delightful angel draped in green velvet, nothing else in the world mattered anymore. Of the last thirty nights of his life, last night would be the one he would have given anything to remember. As the bells began to toll in the noon hour, Wilhelm ran toward her and took her hand in his softly kissing the back of it and gently turning it over, he kissed her wrist.

"Oh…my dear Lady", he said softly.

She looked at him with a welcoming gaze and he smiled at her with a truly honest smile, his eyes shining as he traced the curve of her neck, the softness of her cheek with his fingertips. He could feel his heart beginning to race wildly inside his chest as his lips yearned to touch hers once again and he hoped that he might be able to recreate that heaven-on-earth for one last night.

* * *

Things _are _going to move along more quickly now as Jakob's showdown with the old witch will shortly come to pass. Sorry about it taking so long to get this chapter up, but I've had a ton of things to do lately. I promise not to take so long with the next one. Thanks for your reviews and please continue with your feedback. I truly appreciate it!


	17. Clever Jakob

Now wasn't that lovely my dears? Our sweet Wilhelm is falling in love! What? Oh don't worry, everything will work out, you'll see. You see. we're coming to the most exciting part of our story where everyone's fate will be decided for you see now Jakob must confront the old witch! This is where it gets most terrifying and dangerous! He'll be coming up against a power the likes he's never seen before and this will test the courage and the brain of our very...

**Clever Jakob**

Jakob had made his way around the castle looking for any kind of entrance he could use to avoid using the front door. Stealth would have to his constant companion from now on. He had to beat the witch at her own game and catch her off guard in order to have any kind of advantage. The fact that a large portion of the castle was covered in a tangled mass of vines sporting very precarious looking thorns made the task more difficult, but he had managed to spot what appeared to be an old servants entrance buried in the greenery that looked as if it hadn't been unused for many a year and he had very nearly missed it. Picking his way through the thick and thorny vines was no easy task and after pricking himself more than a dozen times, he managed to clear away enough to pass through the door.

However, he wasn't going to get in that easily. The door was locked tight with a rather large, black padlock. With one hand on his hip and the other scratching his head as if that would help an idea to surface, he looked about for something that would be useful to him, but found nothing. He had come this far and he wasn't about to let something as common as a lock stand in his way. He examined the lock, turning it over in his hands and then fishing his quill knife out of his satchel, he proceeded to insert it into the keyhole hoping the pick the lock. The lock had other ideas however and just before the tip of the knife reached it, the keyhole promptly disappeared from sight.

"Ah, so you're a magic lock eh?" said Jakob dropping the lock from his hand, "so that means it will take a bit of magic to open you. Hmm, this will take a bit of thought."

He leaned back, arms crossed, grinding one heel into the dirt before him and peered over his glasses as he studied the lock thoughtfully. He raised one eyebrow as a thought occurred to him. Perhaps the third time was the charm and he could try the rhyme spell once again, but the only one he could think of about doors had to do with shutting them. Maybe if he arranged it to suit his purpose. Pushing up his sleeves, he held his hands out in front of him palms facing the door and spread his long fingers apart. He then steadied himself and cleared his throat.

"All right then, here we go. One two, buckle my shoe. Three four, open the door!" he said confidently.

The lock stayed put making him frown. He began pacing back and forth, chewing the nail on his index finger as his mind went into high speed thought. It was obvious now that the rhyme couldn't be changed so he would have to take a different tack. Jakob began running through everything in his mental stores about tales, spells and magic that he knew that had to do with opening doors or gaining entrance. He gathered a short list of magic words he knew that usually produced some sort of satisfactory response on an object when spoken; now all that was left was to try each one. Returning to his original position with his hands before him, he once again steadied himself and used the first word in the list.

"Alakazam!" he announced trying to sound confident.

Nothing happened so with renewed zeal he tried again.

"Abracadabra!"

"Hocus Pocus!"

"Zim Salabim!"

"Shazam!"

"Fee-Fie-Foe-Fum!"

"Gesundheit! Oh, come on!" he pleaded at the lock throwing his hands in the air, but there it hung staring at him blankly still locked tight.

Frustration was beginning to get to him. There was only one word left and if that didn't produce results he would have to resign himself to using the front door which was not what he was hoping for at all. Once again into the breach Jakob tried the last bit of magic in his repertoire.

"Open Sesame!"

The lock dutifully popped open.

"Yes!" cried Jakob loudly, then slapping his hand over his mouth and flattening himself against the door, he waited and listened carefully to see if he had just foolishly announced his arrival.

After a few moments of silence punctuated by the lonely calls of the ravens that circled overhead, he allowed himself to release his breath in a huge sigh of relief. Jakob quietly removed the lock and sat it aside, then lightly grasped the handle and gave the door a gentle push. The door yawned open before him without so much as a squeak and he peered into the darkness beyond.

The room beyond was a large storage pantry or larder filled with all sorts of things that appeared not to have been touched for years. Dust and cobwebs covered nearly everything. Jake entered slowly, fooling with his glasses in a useless attempt to help his eyes adjust to the darkness. He knew there should be another door in that room that led into presumably, the kitchen. Two steps in and the outside door snapped shut leaving Jakob standing in the pitch darkness.

He wasn't afraid of the dark per se, but he hadn't had a real fondness for it since Will had locked him in a root cellar once when he was ten. They had been playing hide and seek with some of Will's friends and not being overly clever at choosing places to hide, his brother had known full well where he was the whole time, so he locked the door to keep him from changing his hiding spot while he found the others not realizing what might happen to his overly imaginative brother. When he found he couldn't open the small door, Jake began to panic. It was cold in there and the dust and musty smell of the stored vegetables made it hard to breathe. Jakob felt like the room was closing in on him fast and his overactive imagination had him convinced that he'd been snatched up by some giant that was going to swallow him whole.

Jakob had that feeling now. It was dark and cold in there too and the dust and cobwebs made it hard to breathe. Goose bumps covered his skin, the hair stood up on the back of his neck and in his mind the room was growing smaller by the minute. Panicking, he pawed through his pack for the blue light. Not there! Panic rising steadily, he tore open his satchel and grabbed the little glass box. Relief spread over him as the blue light illuminated the room enough for him to see at least a few feet around him.

Turning towards the direction he thought he had come from he found himself facing one of the dusty shelves filled with junk. Unfortunately on the shelf right in front of his face he came nose to nose with a rather large dead rat. It was petrified, the dead dry skin taunt on its face revealing large, sharp, ugly teeth that bore a horrifying grin gleaming in the light. Jakob nearly jumped out of his skin and flailed to his right only to come face to face with a crow, stuffed and mounted on a twisted perch, its wings spread wide and its beak gaping open as if in a permanent scream. One of its eyes had popped out long ago and it was dangling on its cheek. Jake tried to keep from screaming as he flailed back the other way in horrified fear only to back into a bank of thick cobwebs, sticky and covered with dust. He ripped at them furiously tearing them to shreds as pulled them away from his face, hair and hands.

Finally free he stood still, panting hard and frightened nearly to death. He had to get himself together or risk losing everything.

"What is wrong with you?" he chided himself in a loud whisper, "You're acting like a frightened five year old! Alright, close your eyes…deep breath." He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "Now, prove you're not the offspring of a turnip, open your eyes and find the other door!"

He opened his eyes, but could do nothing but stand there and stare stupidly because he found that he had been standing in front of the other door all along. He sighed in disgust and thought perhaps his father had been a turnip after all.

He approached the door cautiously and found it to be unlocked. Putting the box away, he opened the door slowly and found that it did indeed lead to the kitchen. The scent of honing oil filled that air as a selection of freshly sharpened knives met his gaze. Looking to his right he spied Frederick chained to the wall, his head hung in despair. Slowly and quietly Jakob entered the room.

Frederick looked up and saw Jake coming toward him. He was about to shout for sheer joy when Jakob shushed him with a finger against his lips. Jake hurried over to Fred and examined his manacles looking for a way to free him, but without warning Frederick jumped up and hugged him for all he was worth. After a few seconds he let go and squeezed his shoulders firmly.

"I'm so glad to see you Jakob!" he said quietly, "I thought you were dead my friend!"

"Well I've survived an attack by a wicked witch before", he replied, "This was no different."

Jakob wasn't about to mention exactly how he'd done it trying to make himself at least sound brave and he was also using it as a way to bolster himself up as well given his idiotic performance in the pantry just moments before. If Frederick, Kate or especially Will had seen that, he would have never lived it down, he was quite sure of that.

As Jake looked over the manacles once again Fred said, "The keys are over there hanging near the hearth. The old hag put them just out of my reach just to torment me, I know she did. Jake, she was going to _eat _me!"

"Well, no one is going to have you for dinner today", announced Jakob as he went to fetch the keys and opened the locks.

"Oh, that is so much better", said Fred as he rubbed his wrists and ankles.

"Where are Kate and the others?" asked Jakob.

"She keeps them somewhere up above us. I can hear them cooing when she comes and goes through that door", explained Fred as he pointed to the door to the dining hall.

Jakob nodded and said, "I've found the key to freeing all the girls."

He took the flower gently out of his satchel and Frederick stared in wonder as he explained how it all would work. He then put his hand on Fred's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. Jakob raised his hand and pointed at him as if to punctuate the seriousness that was now reflected in his deep, chocolate brown eyes.

"Are you up for this?" he asked.

"Yes, indeed", Frederick replied with sheer determination in his voice, "Lets show that old hag she's no match for the likes of us!"

Jakob headed for the door with Fred in tow and he slowly opened the door, peering cautiously into the dining hall. He neither saw nor heard anything so he deemed it to be safe to proceed and they both headed for the stairs that led to the tower. They could hear the doves cooing randomly as they climbed the stairs and they stopped in sight of the large wooden door of the tower. Jakob knew he had to be very cautious not knowing exactly where the witch was at the moment. One false move now and the outcome would be disastrous, all the hard work wasted. Jakob cracked the tower door open and peered inside. Nothing. Opening it a bit further, he ventured to look around the room a bit more. Still nothing. By all appearances the witch was nowhere to be found.

'Huh? odd…', thought Jakob.

Motioning to Frederick to follow, Jake stepped into the room. The sight that met them was fantastic. The room was large and airy, but warm and one hundred gold cages hung from the high ceiling by long golden chains of various lengths. As the late afternoon sun made its way towards the horizon, its light flooded in through the western windows making the cages glisten as they rotated back and forth in the warm breeze. The doves were radiant in the golden sun as they fluttered in their cages sending feathers through bars that fell like soft, fluffy snowflakes to the floor. The floor was also covered in birdseed that crunched beneath their boots as they walked.

They wandered through the room between the cages feeling awestruck as they studied each one and Frederick gave Jakob a puzzled glance as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Which one is Kate?" said Jakob quietly, "They all look alike!"

"Now what?" asked Fred.

At that moment one of the birds near the center of the room began cooing loudly and fluttering around in it cage beating itself against the bars as if in an effort to break free. The fussing did its intended work and Jakob turned around. The moment he saw the purple mark on the little bird's chest he instinctively knew it was Katherine.

"Kate!" he shouted and ran for the cage dodging around the others with Frederick right behind him.

Jakob put his hands up and moved them about the cage trying to calm the little bird down; the look on his face was one of sadness mixed with relief. Taking the crystal flower from his satchel he held it up for her to see and the "Kate-bird" settled down upon its perch and cooed contentedly as it watched Jakob move the flower closer to the cage. Just as he was about to touch it to the cage a voice came from behind them.

"Not so fast!" cried the witch, "Did you think you could just walk in here and…_its you_!"

The witch instantly recognized Jakob as he turned to face her, quickly hiding the flower behind his back. A chill ran through his body that raised goose bumps as the air in the room grew colder and his face paled. Her gaze was fixed on him holding his eyes transfixed to hers. He felt as if he couldn't breath and his mouth was so dry that when he tried to swallow, he nearly choked.

"You have been a thorn in my side since the very beginning, constantly getting in my way and now here you are again even thought I left you in the bottom of that well to die! Clever little Jakob Grimm. Well, you won't slip your way out this time! I've tried everything to distract you; your nightmares, your worst fears, even my womanly charms!"

The old witch turned her face away and passed her hand across it. Jake and Fred watched in fear as she morphed into her enchantress form, her dark ringlets gleaming in the late afternoon sun, her pale skin as radiant as the most delicate china, her crimson lips soft and inviting. She was even more beautiful than before, if that were even possible. Frederick stood awestruck, transfixed at the sight of her, but her eyes were on Jakob, her steady gaze holding him in place as if his boots were bolted to the floor. Any thought of her real form was completely washed from his mind and for the life of him he couldn't remember why he was there in the first place. Right here, right now, all there was in his head was her. Slowly she began to glide across the floor, floating towards him as if on air.

"Do you remember Jakob? Do you remember how good it felt to let it all go and be free of them?"

She was close to him now, her eyes staring deeply into his; locked into his soul. He could feel her breath on his cheek and his nostrils filled with the scent of her skin, the warm, sweet scent of freshly baked gingerbread with cream. Jakob felt as if his knees would buckle at any second from the sheer nearness of her and he tried to look away from her, but could not break his gaze. Every muscle in his body suddenly felt weak and at that moment, the flower clattered to the floor, but he didn't really care anymore.

The sudden noise jolted Frederick from his reverie and out of the corner of his eye he could see the crystal flower lying on the floor behind Jakob, but he didn't dare move, didn't dare draw the witch's attention to it or the girls would never be freed. He knew he would have to wait until just the right moment or everything would be lost. If Jakob became lost to her spell then it was going to be all up to him.

Fredrick watched helplessly as she placed her hands on Jakob's chest and began seductively running her fingertips across it as she slowly made her way up to his shoulders. Despite how cold the room had become, Jake was beginning to sweat. He swallowed hard as his stomach knotted up, barely able to fight the urge that was building up inside of him to give in to her.

"You could have had anything you wished for Jakob. You could have had it all, but you rejected me!"

Instead of continuing up to his face, she stopped at his neck; her hands clamping down around his throat like an iron vise cutting off his breath.

"But now you have to die!"

* * *

Sorry about the cliffhanger guys, I know everyone hates those. :P However, I didn't have a choice or the chapter would have been huge! Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out if Jakob actually dies...or not. As always please read and review and thanks in advance.


	18. Gallant Jakob and Courageous Frederick

Should we stop now and then I can tell you the rest another time? No? Oh, you needn't get so excited, I was only teasing! Of course I'll tell you what happened, My goodness! This part of the story has been told for many years and everyone always talked about...

**Gallant Jakob and Courageous Frederick**

'Must breathe…' thought Jakob.

The witch's grip was like an iron vise as she squeezed tighter and tighter, her nails digging into the soft flesh of his neck. He grabbed her slender wrists with his large hands and tried to pull her hands away, but her grip was as tight as a hangman's noose. Frederick looked on in horror as Jakob's body went limp and his arms dropped to his sides as if he were giving up, but at the last moment he brought his arms up, full force under her forearms and slammed her hands away. Just a quickly he brought his right arm back around and caught the witch directly under her chin with the heel of his hand sending her flying backwards a few steps away from him. Jakob went reeling backwards a few steps as well, coughing and wheezing as he rubbed his neck and tried to shake off the remaining effects of the spell. He looked at his hands and saw streaks of blood where she had scratched his neck when he broke her grip on him. He so hoped those nails of hers weren't tipped with poison as he had heard before in so many tales from his childhood.

The old witch was now very angry at this new affront. Not only had he broken free, but he had stuck her! With a terrifying scream she regained her true ugly, misshapen form, her eyes flashed a brilliant red and she hissed baring her rotten, crooked teeth. She raised her right arm, fingers spread and bright blue lightening jumped from her fingertips directly towards Jake.

"I shall send you straight to hell!"

Frederick saw it coming first as Jake hadn't fully recovered from the witch's grip.

"Jake! No!" he shouted.

Frederick took a flying leap at Jakob literally body slamming him out of the way and onto the floor sending them both rolling away scattering seed and feathers everywhere.

"Thanks" coughed Jakob as he picked a feather off of his face and tossed it away.

The witch had missed her mark and was now heading for Jakob with fury in her eyes. Fred realized that the witch was now fixated on killing Jake and that her attention was no longer on him. He took this as the perfect opportunity to grab the flower and scoot away in the opposite direction. He had to protect it and keep it out of her possession.

She unleashed her fury on Jakob once again, but this time he was ready for it and dove out of the way. The lightening blast hit the stone floor and the impact caused the birds to panic in their cages, cooing frantically and sending feathers flying everywhere.

Frederick had made his way safely to the other side of the room and he winched at the sound of the blast hitting the stone floor. He couldn't really see, but he hoped that Jakob hadn't been in the path of that attack. He knew he had to do something fast to derail the old witch's plans while she was still after Jake. The Princess was the key and he had to find her, but sadly all the doves looked alike to him making that task all the harder.

"Oh my beloved Princess", he said mournfully, "which one are you?"

He had to take a chance and so not knowing how else to choose, he closed his eyes, spun around and when he stopped, he pointed forward. When he opened his eyes he walked up to the cage he had been pointing at.

"You're the one I'll start with", he announced trying to sound as if he had made a proper decision and not a frantic guess.

Swallowing hard he lightly touched the flower to the cage. There was an instant reaction. A cloud of blue and white smoke poofed up in front of him and a young girl appeared. Fred jumped back as his heart leapt into his throat. Her instant appearance had scared him out of his wits! However, fear quickly turned to disappointment as he realized she was not his beloved Princess. The girl was overjoyed to see Frederick and to find that she was at last free, but her joy turned to sheer panic as the old witch fired off another round at Jakob on the other side of the tower room. Letting out a tiny scream, she ran away from the sound of the blast, past Fred and cowered against the wall on the far side of the room.

Determined to find her, Fred touched another cage. The result was the same. He touched cage after cage, but still no luck.

"Nope…No, not you….not you either. Oh, saints in hell! I'm going to be here all day at this rate!"

He had gone through several cages and the group of girls at the back of the room had begun to grow, but still no Princess. He prayed that Jakob wasn't kidding when he said he was good at surviving attacks from witches and could keep her busy long enough for him to find her and get her and the newly freed girls out of there even if that meant coming back for Katherine and the others later after sunset and the equinox had passed.

Unfortunately for Frederick, the old witch heard the freed girl's tiny screams as they huddled as far away from the fireworks as they could as she took shots at Jakob.

"Give me that flower!" she bellowed as she headed in Fred's direction, "or your death will be far worse that you ever imagined!"

Jakob had successfully dodged her last blast and was now on his hands and knees trying to decide where to jump next when he heard her demand the flower from Frederick. He could see her heading for him as Fred was picking his way through the cages, bumping into them left and right, as he tried to get away from her. Jakob knew he was no match for her and she would have him in one shot, so he had to think quickly about how to draw her attention back to him, so that he could continue to free more of the girls.

Jake knelt there with his hands on his head in a semi state of panic, looking around for something that might help. Then he remembered the gold coins he had in his pack. He wasn't sure what he had in mind was going to work, but he had to try or lose Fred. Quickly he plunged both hands into his pack and coming up with two handfuls of gold; he tossed them across the stone floor at the witch sending birdseed and feathers flying everywhere.

"My gold!" she screamed as the coins rolled across the floor around her feet. "How did you get my gold?"

She began scrambling around snatching up coins and stuffing them in the pockets of her dress.

"Oh, you horrible, wretched creature!" she screamed at Jakob, "I shall make you suffer!"

This had the intended effect of distracting her away from Frederick, but the unintended consequence of making her even angrier at Jakob, if that were at all possible. Fred took this as his queue to continue hunting for the Princess. His lack of success so far was rather frustrating and he hoped he would find her soon so as not to expose Jake to the old witch's wrath for any longer that he had to.

The old witch turned on Jakob, heading straight for him, forcing him to crawl backward away from her until he bumped into a wall. He now had no where to go and she knew it. Raising her hands above her head, fingers spread wide; she tilted her head back and let out a roar of anger that literally shook the very foundations of the castle.

A bright blue glow began to surround her and the room grew deathly cold. A foul wind whipped up from around her feet much like the one she had created at the gingerbread house, but this was far more frightening and intense. The freezing wind was tearing through the room like a tornado, blowing feathers and seed out the windows and clearing the floor. The birds panicked and thrashed themselves against their cages trying to escape and Fred retreated to the far side of the room, hunkering down on the floor against the wall with the group of freed girls who were screaming in terror. There in the center of the deadly vortex stood the witch gathering every last ounce of power she could muster and as the wind closed in around her it whipped her clothes and hair about in a wild frenzy.

"Scheiße", muttered Jakob weakly, his face a pale mask of shock and fear, his brown eyes wide with terror, "No, no, no, no, don't do that!" he said in a hoarse whisper putting his hands up in front on him as if that somehow protect him, "Oh, this is bad. So very, very bad! Gah, what have I done?"

He knew at any moment the witch would let loose of all that power she was gathering and having no way to escape it, he would meet his end. It all came crashing down on him like a fragile house of cards and it was entirely his fault. Will would die tomorrow and the entire Kingdom would remain cursed forever, all those innocent girls trapped in those cages for eternity and poor, simple Fred whose end he knew full well would be also close at hand. So many people hurt or dieing and it was all on him for failing, for getting in over his head!

He thought of the cage that contained the little bird with the purple stain. He knew full well what that meant. Kate; dear, sweet Kate. His Kate! His eyes filled with hot tears blurring his vision, making everything look as if it were melting before his eyes. Her heart had been broken by the thought of his death and now his was as well because he had never told her how he really felt. He just assumed she knew, but he hadn't said it, really said it, to her face and now he would never see her sweet face ever again!

Her face…her face…face? Face! Yes, that was it! The mirror! Jakob looked up at the old witch who now had a huge ball of blue-white lighting in her hands and was preparing to fire on him at any moment. He slid his hand inside of his pack and his long fingers closed around the handle of the mirror.

"Die!" screamed the witch as she unleashed her fury at Jakob.

Jakob whipped the mirror out of the pack and held it up in front of his upper body, the glass facing the witch and closing his eyes, he turned his face away, pulling his legs up tight against himself, trying to make himself as small a target as possible. As the setting sun touched the horizon, the last bright rays poured through the west windows and hit the glass of the hand mirror. The flash of the setting sun blinded the witch for just a few precious seconds throwing her shot off its mark and slightly upward. That little nudge was all it took. The witch's blast struck the mirror's glass dead on reflecting its full force right back in her direction.

She saw the returning blast just seconds too late and she screamed as she was engulfed in flames, blazing brightly like the head of a match, then quickly going out. As the last wisps of smoke cleared away, all that was left of her was what appeared to be a pale, gray statue that slowly began crumbling to the floor like a sand castle engulfed in an ocean wave. After a few moments of silence punctuated by the sobs of the frightened girls, Jakob opened one eye and peeked around the edge of the mirror, then opened the other and stared in disbelief. Nothing remained of the old witch now but a pile of gray ashes on the stone floor. A stiff, cold evening breeze blew through the windows scattering the ashes across the floor leaving nothing behind but the gold coins that were in her pockets.

"Huh, what do you know, it worked", Jakob said cheerfully surprised.

Feeling quite pleased that things had gone much smoother than he expected and the whole ordeal was finally over; Jakob smiled and spun the mirror around in his hand and stuffed it back into his pack. Standing up he brushed the dust from his clothing and wondered where Fred had gotten off to. Frederick stuck his head around a cage and smiled broadly at him.

"You did it! Oh yes!" cheered Fred as he ran to him. "I knew you could do it! That was brilliant! How did you ever think of something so clever?"

Jakob tried his best to look humble and what he had done was really nothing so extraordinary. He would never admit that he had thoroughly given up just moments before; the mirror was just a desperate last stab and he really had no idea if it was going to work at all.

"Oh, it just sort of came to me", said Jake nonchalantly, but to Frederick he was a hero.

"What about you then", said Jakob patting him on the shoulder, "going around freeing all those girls in the face of danger? I think you're the real hero here!"

He was trying to take the spotlight off of himself and shine it on Frederick a little more. After all, he had been very brave through the whole thing and had always dreamed of being a hero someday.

"That was a very brave thing to do", Jake continued, "I'm very impressed!"

"I simply did what needed to be done", said Frederick humbly, "That is what we came here to do, isn't it? No witch was going to stand in our way of doing it, isn't that right?"

"Right!" replied Jake stoutly.

'What a heroic fool', thought Jakob shaking his head to himself, 'and speaking of fools…' He took the flower from Fred and walked directly to the cage that held Kate. This time without hesitation, he touched it to the cage and Kate promptly appeared before him.

"Jakob?" she asked in a slight whisper, not sure if she should believe what she was seeing was real.

Jakob smiled broadly at her as he softly cradled her cheek in his long fingers and handed the flower back to Fred without taking his eyes off of her. As Fred went merrily about freeing the other girls and looking for his missing Princess, Jake took Kate in his arms and kissed her deeply. When the parted, Kate laid her head against Jakob's chest and there they remained holding each other as if they would never, ever let each other go.

* * *

Finally the witch is dead and the girls have been freed, but will they all make it back in time to save dear Wilhelm? And what about the geese? Will Frederick marry the Princess? Look for the next chapter and find out.

Thanks for reading this chapter and reviews are always welcome. Please let me know how I'm doing so far. Thanks.


	19. The 97 Bridegrooms

Now, wasn't that wonderful children? Jakob and Frederick defeated the evil witch together and all the girls were set free! My yes, Jakob and Katherine are very happy together. Oh, I remember him like it was yesterday! He was so gentle and ever so clever. You know, I...Oh please forgive me, I've quite gotten off track now haven't I? Wilhelm? Not to worry, I'll tell you what happened to him soon enough, but now comes that part of the story about how they all got home and how they found out about...

**The 97 Bridegrooms**

The sun had set by the time all the girls had been freed and a large; full moon was rising in the East. Frederick had finally found his Princess and he was wearing a permanent blush as she gushed over him for being her hero.

Jakob had thrown open the front doors of the castle and all the girls came pouring out into the moonlight. He explained that they were going to have to travel through the forest at night in order to reach the enchanted lake, for he had a promise to fulfill before taking them all home. How he was going to get them all home in time to save his brother he wasn't sure, but he'd had faith that he would finish the task. Now he had to have faith that all would work out in the end. Jake knew Will would have called him seven kinds of fool about now for not planning an exit strategy, but he would just have to make do.

"I've spread those lentils I had in my pack to mark the way back to the lake", he told Kate, "but even in the bright full moon we have at our disposal this evening, I'm not sure I'll be able to see them."

"Don't worry", she replied, "my eyes are sharp. I'm sure I can follow the trail."

Jakob and Katherine wandered about for a few moments until he was sure he had found the place where he had left the forest to go in search of the alternative entrance and Kate began to look for the trail of lentils. After picking their way around for a few minutes, Jake stopped cold in his tracks and grabbed Kate by the arm to get her attention.

"Kate, look!" he said pointing ahead.

A wonder met their eyes. Long, silvery, green vines had sprung up and marked the trail through the forest in the moonlight. Jakob knelt down to touch them to make sure they were real.

"The lentils, they've sprouted in the moonlight", said Kate in awe as she knelt beside him.

The girls all pointed at them and murmured amongst themselves surprised to see the wondrous sight.

"Magic beans!" she whispered, "Oh Jakob, it's wonderful!" She reached up and gave him a quick hug, "Such amazing things always seem to happen around you!"

"Amazing things happen every day", he said smiling as he gently touched her cheek, "all you have to do is open your eyes and look for them."

Jakob couldn't believe it. Will had told him his entire life that there was no such thing usually punctuated with some sort of physical exclamation, but there they were, right before his very eyes. To top it off, he had over a hundred witnesses to back it up! Now what would his brother have to say about all this, he wondered. He rose and called to Frederick.

"We will have to follow the trail of vines through the forest to get back to the lake, but we must hurry and get there before the moon sets", he explained, "If these truly are magic and I suspect they are, they will no longer be there when the sun rises and we will be lost in these woods."

He told Frederick to spread the word among the girls, so he lined them up counting them off ten at a time, then Fred brought up the rear to make sure no one wandered off the trail. With Jake and Kate in the lead, they made their way back to the lake as quickly as they could.

They arrived at the lake just as the moon was setting and the thick, white mist still surrounded it giving it an other worldly glow. They were all grateful that the clearing was warm for the forest at night had been terribly cold. As they sat and rested, waiting for the sunrise Jakob told them all the story of everything that had happened up till then with Frederick adding some things in to make himself look brave in front of the Princess.

When the sun had finally risen, they found that the geese were back again surrounding them as if they were protecting them. Soon the geese began waddling in and out amongst the girls, honking and flapping their wings. Jakob still wasn't clear on why they needed to come back to this particular place or what to do about the geese. The one thing he did know was today was the day that he desperately needed to be back at the castle with the Princess in order to stop his brother's execution.

"What am I supposed to do now", Jakob lamented in the midst of the confusion, "The castle is several days journey away, we'll never get there in time and I have no idea what to do about these incredibly noisy geese! Gah! I can't think with all this going on!"

"What about the little man you told us about?" offered Frederick, "As I recall from your story, don't you have one wish left?"

"Your right Fred", said Katherine, "Jakob, you could ask the little man to send us all home!"

"Why of course, the blue light", said Jake as if it were obvious. He was feeling a bit stupid for not thinking of it himself.

He reached into his satchel, pulled out the glass box and opened the latch. The little man promptly appeared in front of them. Kate and Fred were amazed at this and the girls closest to them gasped and back away at the sudden appearance of the ugly little man dressed in black.

"What is your final wish Master?" the little man asked.

Jakob carefully phrased the wish that he would like to have them all safely returned to the Princess' castle.

"Very good Master", the little man replied, "but first there is something that you must to do in order to return."

Jakob had learned it was best to do as the little man said and not be thick about it in order for the wish to work properly, so he listened carefully.

"First each girl must pick out one goose from the flock and be sure to tuck it under their arm well, so as not to have it fly free. Present company accepted of course", he instructed nodding at Katherine, "Then I will instruct you further as to what to do next."

The girls did as they were told. Jake expected this to be an exercise in chaos, however it went rather smoothly and it almost appeared that each goose was making them self available to one particular girl. In the end they had all caught a goose save the Princess and a young blond girl named Greta. Standing before them were a total of ninety-seven pairs of girl and goose.

"Don't worry my dears", he said to Greta and the Princess, "your turn will come soon enough."

He surveyed the girls with their geese and then in a very flat, matter-of-fact tone he said, "You must all now kiss your goose."

This order was met with protest dispersed with girlish giggles. None of them wished to do so as complaints that the geese were ugly and smelled of the fishy water from the lake were heard, Jakob rubbing his hand on the back of his neck turned and looked over his glasses at Kate with a bemused smile trying to keep from laughing at all these silly girls. He had begun to catch on to what the little man was doing and he knew that breaking spells sometimes required doing something that you would not normally be happy about doing, but that was the whole point. Sometimes you have to do the hard thing to get what you desire.

"I suggest you get on with it or we will be stuck here forever", cautioned the little man.

All of the girls were still balking at the idea of kissing a goose except for one girl who just wanted to get this over with and return home. Upon kissing the goose she held under her arm, a wonderful thing happened. Instantly a handsome young lad stood before her with a smile as bright as the sun above. The girl was thrilled with her new beau and they instantly took to each other. When the others saw what had happened, they all began kissing their geese and each soon had their own handsome young man to call their own.

Everyone seemed happy with this turn of events except for Greta and she had begun to cry because she had no one of her own. 'Poor thing', thought Frederick as he came to comfort her.

"Oh don't cry", he said as he took he hands in his, "There will be someone who's meant just for you that will come along soon, I'm sure of it! Someone as pretty as you are couldn't be left alone for very long."

Greta smiled at Fred and it seemed the longer they talked, the more enamored of each other they were becoming. Katherine held onto Jakob's arm, gave it a squeeze and smiled as she watched them. Jake put his hand on hers and smiled as well. He knew that wonderful feeling they were discovering very well indeed. However, the Princess could only frown at seeing her childhood love with another even though she knew they could never be together because of their different stations in life. She supposed that when she returned, she would have to resign herself to marrying whomever it was her father had chosen and that would be that.

"As you can see", explained the little man, "these are the young men who set out to rescue these lovely young maidens. The witch had them turned into geese and put then here so they couldn't escape then she could have her pick and eat them later. However, with the three of you causing her such a distraction, she had quite forgotten about them. Now if you're ready to go, I believe it's time to return you to your home and in doing so fulfill the final wish."

The little man instructed them to all gather together as closely as they could, at least as close as two hundred people could and as they did the mist from the lake filled the clearing becoming thicker and thicker. Jakob and Katherine held onto each other tightly not wanting to risk loosing site of each other again and soon the thick mist had engulfed them all. In only a few short moments, the mist began to fade once again and they found that they were all standing in front of the drawbridge of the Princess' castle.

"My job is now complete and all of your wishes have been granted", said the little man to Jake, "I only have one thing to request of you and that is that you give me the glass box that contains the blue light which once held me prisoner."

Jakob took the box from his satchel, handed to the little man with a gracious bow and thanked him for all of the help he had given him along the way.

"Your thanks are appreciated Herr Grimm, but it was a duty I little choice but to perform being at the mercy of the magic of the blue light", the little man replied taking the box, "However, I would have gladly done so even without it for reasons you do not yet fully understand."

"Would it be rude of me to ask just what those reasons might be?" asked Jakob, curious to add to his notes so as to make the little man's story more complete when he wrote it.

"You shall soon see", he replied, "but I do believe you have some more important business to attend to at the moment, do you not?"

It now occurred to Jakob as he listened to the church bells chime a quarter past eleven that the drawbridge to the castle had not yet been opened as they should have and he wasn't sure why they hadn't. Had something gone wrong in breaking the witch's spell over the land or was the King proceeding with the execution beyond the door not knowing it was over? He had to get in before it was too late and he had to find a way to get someone's attention inside.

Jakob looked around him for something that would help him make enough noise to be heard inside through the thick wooden door. He found it in a pile of hand sized stones that were left over from the construction of a short garden wall. He thanked God the stone masons had been lax in cleaning up after themselves on that particular project and picked up one of the stones. Jake hurled it at the drawbridge with all his might and it landed with a loud "thonk!" against the wood.

"Hello!" he shouted as loudly as he could and he picked up another stone and tossed it as he did the first. "Hello!"

All of the others followed suit tossing the stones and began shouting, resulting in raising quite a ruckus in front of the castle. The inhabitance would have to have been deaf or dead not to hear. Jakob just hoped that when they opened the drawbridge it wouldn't be too late.

**********

"Seize him!!" demanded the King.

Two guards scooped up Will under the arms and somewhat roughly escorted him before the throne.

"Well, well, well, It seems your brother has failed", said the Chamberlain sounding very self-satisfied, "As I said before your Majesty, nothing but conmen!"

"Very well", said the King solemnly as his hands formed a steeple before him, "Wilhelm Karl Grimm, you are hereby sentenced to be-headed on this day for your failure to honor your obligation to the Crown."

"What? No!" Wilhelm yelled as sheer panic set in. He desperately looked around the room for help, but none was forthcoming. The men stood silent looking at their boots and the young girls huddled in a tight group crying and wailing into their lace handkerchiefs. The poor Lady Rosalind could do nothing but watch her new found love wait to meet his fate all the while leaning on her lady-in-waiting as if she were about to collapse at any moment.

There was a deep silence in the room as a large chopping block was brought in and placed in the center of the room. This was followed by the executioner, a man who was well over six feet tall with broad shoulders and muscular arms. He wore a black hood and was carrying a rather large, sharp and nasty looking axe. The girls wailed loudly at the sight and poor Lady Rosalind promptly fainted causing a stir in the crowd as some of the courtiers rushed to help her.

"Such a dreary business, what?" said the King as he yawned nonchalantly.

The Chamberlain nodded in reply with an extremely evil grin upon his face. As far as he was concerned Wilhelm was just another castle pest and he couldn't wait to be rid of him.

"Proceed!" declared the King.

Will's hands were bound behind his back and as he was pushed down onto the block, the room became deathly silent.

"Stretch him out well", ordered the executioner in a rather deep basso voice that matched his size.

One guard stepped up behind Will and pulled back on his arms while another stood in front grabbing two handfuls of hair and pulled forward, baring his neck fully extended. Will squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced trying to wiggle free, but it did no good. One of the young girls screamed and another fainted joining the Lady on the floor. The executioner spread is legs to center his weight and leaning the axe on one leg, he spit on his hands to better his grip. Taking good hold of the axe, the executioner raised it above his head and brought it back down to touch Will's neck in order to take good aim, then raising it high in the air above his head, he readied for the final blow.

* * *

Yes, I know, cliffhanger again. Sorry about that, but it just happened that the chapters had to be broken up that way. Anyway, we're down to the wire and there are only two chapters left! I hope you liked this chapter and the rest of the story as well. I'd love to hear what you think, so reviews are always welcome.


	20. Sharing Joy and Sorrow

Oh, yes, yes, yes, you're right! Jakob had better hurry up hadn't he! Poor Wilhelm is going to lose his head at any moment and then what will Jakob do? Oh my, don't get so excited now! Everyone sit quietly now and listen while I tell you what happens next, for this is going to turn out to be the worst moment of Jakob's entire life! As you will see in the end, they will all end up...

**Sharing Joy and Sorrow**

A loud thumping noise was heard echoing from the Great Hall, then once again, another thump.

The executioner, becoming distracted, lowered his axe and looked over his shoulder towards the source of the noise. Not hearing it again, he began to start the execution over again. Several more loud thumps punctuated the silence of the throne room followed by shouting and whistles. The executioner stopped once again as the thumping continued and the shouting grew louder. He looked at the King and shrugged. The racket was throwing him off and he knew from experience a fouled execution can be a very ugly thing.

"What in the name of St. Leger is going on at my front door!" shouted the King as he slammed his hand down on the arm of his throne.

The Chamberlain was fairly sure he knew what it was, but as far as he was concerned the execution was going to go forth. He had waited too long to have this satisfying moment of watching Will's head part from his body.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Your Majesty. Please, we must continue and finish this before the noon bell tolls!"

The King however, was much too irritated at this point and sent two guards out to see what was going on. They rushed through the Great Hall and peered through the small slit windows on either side of the drawbridge. To there surprise, there stood Jakob with the ugly little man beside him and a huge crowd of people behind him shouting, whistling and throwing rocks at the drawbridge. One of the guards ran to tell the King what had occurred and the other called for help to lower the drawbridge.

"Your Majesty!" called the guard quite out of breath, "They have arrived! Sire, Herr Grimm has returned!"

The Chamberlain was beside himself. However, not one to be cheated out of his execution, he quickly intervened taking advantage of the chaos that was about to occur.

"Well, it looks as if we will not have to hunt him down after all. We can simply execute them both right here and now. Executioner, proceed!"

Before the King could intervene to stop it, the executioner once again raised his axe above his head and prepared to swing. At that moment, the crowd came pouring into the throne room led by Jakob wearing a very large and joyful smile with the Princess at his side. The smile left his face quickly as he saw the axe poised above the heads of the courtiers in front of him that blocked his view of what was occurring in the front of the room.

"Your Majesty, wait!" he shouted, "I've brought your daughter back!"

The crowd began to part as Jake pushed forward. It took mere seconds for Jakob to watch the axe fall, but it seemed like an eternity. The room grew silent and to him everything turned to slow motion. It was like a horrible nightmare. No matter how fast he tried to move or how hard he pushed against the crowd before him, it wasn't fast enough. The axe disappeared behind the crowd and Jakob heard a loud, sickening "whump" as it made contact with the large wooden block. The crowd surrounding him jumped and gasped.

Jake stopped dead in his tracks. Wavering back and forth as his knees began to give way, the color drained from his face giving him a ghostly appearance. He tried to breathe, but suddenly couldn't quite remember how and a wrenching pain took hold of his chest. Jakob felt as if his heart was being ripped out between his ribs and he grabbed his chest to try and hold it in, to stop the horrible pain, but it was all too much at once. Jakob collapsed onto the cold stone floor.

***********

"_I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" wailed young Jakob, tears flooding from his eyes and he clutched his chest, as he lay on the floor looking up at his very angry brother._

"_Not sorry enough!" shouted young Wilhelm, his eyes filled with hot, angry tears, "Our sister is dead because of you! You and those stupid magic beans!"_

_Will pounced on Jake and with all his might began punching him and slapping his face._

"_You and your stupid magic beans! Magic Beans!…magic beans!…"_

"_Do you have your magic beans, Jakob? Well, I do", cooed the __Thüringean Queen softly._

_Jakob was on his knees watching his brother take his last breath. Looking into the huge mirror that filled the wall of the tower, he could see the reflection of his brother as he crawled toward the Queen, reaching out to her for help and clutching the wound in his chest as blood oozed between his delicate fingers. _

"_You leave him alone!" shouted Jake, his eyes filled with angry tears._

"_Do you want to live?" she asked the dieing Will._

_Reaching for the Woodsmen, she pulled the metal stake from his heart and in one swift move, thrust it into Will's._

"_No, no…", whimpered Jakob, helpless to stop it._

"_Come, my sweet Prince", she called as she leaned down to kiss him._

"_No!" shouted Jake as he swung the Woodman's axe, shattering the mirror into a million pieces._

_As the mirror shattered, the pieces of glass pelted Jake's face, striking him again and again. _

"_Oh, that was quite naughty of you Jakob", cooed the Queen, "Now your dear, sweet brother is dead and there are no more magic beans. No more magic beans…"_

"_Magic beans!" said Katherine sweetly, "Look Jakob, the magic beans sprouted in the moonlight!"_

"_No Kate", said Jakob insistently, "there are no such thing as magic beans! They didn't save my sister and they can't save Will! They aren't real!"_

"_Of course they are. They're right there in front of you. All you have to do is stay on the path, Jakob. Just stay on the path."_

"_No, Kate. I can't…", he said tearfully, "I can't…"_

"_Yes, you can", she insisted as she reached up and touched the side of his face, patting it lightly; "Follow the magic beans, Jakob. Follow the magic beans, Jakob…Jakob? Jakob?"_

_Her patting became harder and harder until she was slapping him, but all he could do was stand there as the tears fell from his eyes and let her continue._

"_Jakob?...Jakob?..."_

_*********_

"Jakob? Jakob!"

A honey smooth masculine was speaking loudly into his right ear and someone was slapping the side of his face quite sharply.

"Jakob, wake up you idiot! I'm not dead!"

Jake's eyes instantly shot open. Above him hovered the face of his brother Will wearing the most ridiculous grin he had ever seen. Jake blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn't seeing things and studied the face before him.

"Will?" he asked weakly.

"No, I'm Rumplestiltskin!" said Will deadpan serious, "Who did you think it was?" he laughed as the ridiculous smile returned.

Jake sat up in a half second and grabbed his brother's shoulders and squeezed. When he was satisfied he was very real, he grabbed him up in a tight bear hug. A cheer rose from the crowd as Jake let go and Will helped him to his feet.

"How…?" asked Jakob confused by what had happened.

"Sorry", said the executioner apologetically, "I was frustrated. I've never had such a hard time separating someone from their head before!"

He shrugged and smiled as the crowd laughed and Jakob and Will stood smiling with their arms around each other's shoulders. The Princess chose that moment to burst through the crowd and ran smiling toward her father.

"Daddy!" cried the Princess as she ran to her father and into his arms.

They hugged each other tightly and the King said, "My dear daughter, I never thought I would ever see you again!"

"Looks like you did it!" said Will as he patted his older brother on the shoulder, "I always knew you could!"

"And you didn't doubt me once?" asked Jake, suspiciously.

"Not once!" announced Will confidently.

"You're a terrible liar!' laughed Jakob, "but you are my brother, Will and well…I…well I just couldn't…" he trailed off staring down at his boots.

"I know Jake, I know..." he said as he tightened the grip his arm had around his brother's shoulders giving him a squeeze.

Some things just didn't need to be spoken out loud. One look and a smile was all that was needed to say it all.

The ugly little man stepped forward and climbing the stairs, he stood and faced the crowded room. Everyone gasped at the sight of him, the King was taken aback by his boldness and the Chamberlain glared down at him. He was still fuming about the loss of the anticipated execution and was looking of any excuse he could find to remove someone's head. The little man spoke up bravely and presented a request.

"Jakob Grimm has freed me from my prison and in return I had granted him three wishes to assist him in his quest. Now that my task is complete, I have but one request, I wish to have the King's daughter's hand in marriage."

Gasps and whispers sprang up around the room and the Princess tried to hide behind her father.

"What is the meaning of this?!" sputtered the King

His gaze moved from the little man to Jakob as if he were to blame for this outrage and the Chamberlain smirked thinking he may get his entertainment after all at the other brother's expense. The little man stood with his hands clasped behind his back and looked up at the King.

"I am the one responsible for giving Herr Grimm the information necessary so he could free your daughter and bring her home. Therefore I ask that you to fulfill my request as my reward."

"He is correct about that, however that marriage thing is…well…um all his idea", said Jake nervously given the King's irritated glare.

The girl cowered behind her father and the King's face was turning a lovely shade of purple. However in an effort to keep the King from exploding in Jake's direction, the little man offered another option.

"If she doesn't wish this, I have a simpler request that would be satisfactory. A single kiss from a beautiful Princess would be reward enough. Then I shall take my leave of her."

The princess balked at the request as well and refused to kiss him. The little man was so sinfully ugly she couldn't bare the thought of it. To the King it was a bit better than the first request, but he wasn't sure he could find it in his heart to force his daughter to do such a thing and wondered if there might be something else in his kingdom that he could offer the little men as a reward that would be…well…less disturbing.

"Your Majesty", began Jakob as he took a step forward and clasped his hands behind his back, taking on a most serious and scholarly air, "being one who is very learned in such matters, I suggest the wisest course of action is for her follow through with the request. I believe it will be most beneficial to all concerned."

"Don't listen to him, Sire", interrupted the Chamberlain, "This course of action can only led to trouble for us all!"

Will decided to speak up at that moment. The Chamberlain's huffing and puffing was beginning to get on his nerves. "I beg your pardon, but my brother knows what he's talking about and is usually right in these situations. I wouldn't ignore his advice if I were you."

He leaned over near Jakob and whispered out the corner of his mouth, "Besides, this could be profitable."

Jakob frowned at him disapprovingly for that remark. Will shrugged and gave him a sheepish look that said 'Sorry, old habits…'

The King rubbed his temples with his fingertips as if his head hurt.

"Very well", he said in a resigning tone, "Just do it so that we may be rid of him and get on with business."

The Princess knew that the event at the lake had produced an interesting result, but to hope for that to happen twice would be out of the question, but the thought of kissing him made her delicate stomach churn. She looked at her father, who only returned a stern look and she knew that when he gave an order it had to be done. Taking a few wary steps towards the little man, she looked at Jakob, who gave her a single encouraging nod. With a somewhat disgusted look on her pretty face, she knelt down and holding her breath, she gave him a quick kiss.

When she opened her eyes, there standing before her was a most handsome Prince. Gasps and murmurs went through the crowd and as Kate turned to say something to Jakob, she found him with his nose in his journal taking notes furiously. She sighed and smiled, shaking her head as she looked over at Will who was still staring with his mouth hanging open like a frog catching flies. His mind fought with the reality of what he had just witnessed and his inner skeptic trying to come up with some way this obvious trick could have been pulled off and coming up with nothing. The young Prince took the Princess' hand in his and helping her to her feet, he bowed and he kissed the back of her hand.

"I am your bridegroom Prince Alaric, the one whom you rejected without every having met me. When I heard you had been taken, I was the first to come to your rescue despite your father's protestations. When the witch caught me, she turned me into the ugly, pitiful creature that once stood before you, but before she could do anything else, I ran away and hid in the box with the blue light. Much to my dismay, she took the little box with her when she took some of her treasures to be locked in her underground vault. Before she could lock me away, I pushed the box out of her pocket and hid, praying someone would find the box and use the three wishes wisely; using his heart instead of his head for to my dismay I found that is the only way the blue light would let me go. Jakob Grimm has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and I thank you sir, wholeheartedly, for setting me free!"

There were applause and cheers from the crowd and Jake fussed, rubbing the back of his head, looking nervous and quite humbled at the reaction. Kate moved over to take Jakob's hand. Will had stopped staring at the Prince and was now staring at Jakob with his head tilted sideways in a most peculiar way. He was greatly confused by the sight because the last he knew there was nothing but loathing between the two of them.

"Jake, what…?" began Will, sounding very puzzled.

Jakob stuttered, his hands occupied with the book and quill in one and Kate holding the other making it hard for him to think and express himself, he lamely tried to explain, "Well, um…there were these spiders and… uh, the soup…It was everywhere! Oh, and, um...we ran and fell and…Oh, it's a long story. I'll tell you about it later!"

Will was even more confused now if that were possible with all that had gone on that morning so far.

Turning to the Princess once again the Prince looked deep into her eyes and said honestly, 'I would have spent eternity in that box if I had to just to be able to free you at last and make you my bride!"

The Prince knelt down on one knee still holding her hand and looking up at her he said humbly, "That is if you will have me."

She looked over at Jakob and smiled, then looked at Frederick. Even though she knew they could never be together, she still felt quite sad at the prospect of never seeing him again. The Princess placed her hand on her chest and looked down into the Prince's pleading eyes, "Please grant me one moment before I answer."

She went to Jakob and curtsied low, bowing her head demurely, "Thank you Herr Grimm, for everything you have done in coming to my rescue as well as the others. I shall be eternally grateful to you."

With his journal and quill in one arm and Kate holding the other hand, Jake managed a fairly passable bow in return, "Oh, you are very welcome Your Highness, but…"

Before his could finish adding it was not him alone who was responsible, she had moved on to Frederick. She took his hands in hers and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you for being so brave and coming to rescue me", she told him as tears filled her eyes, "Oh, I'm so sorry Frederick; I don't know what else to say. We both knew we could never be more than what we are to each other, it just isn't allowed. If there were some way, but there are no magic beans for us."

"Hey now, don't worry", he replied smiling sadly at her, "We will always have the memories in our hearts, that will be our magic, eh? You see, I've learned from a very reliable source that things will always work out for the best by the end of the story and I believe your happy ending is waiting for you right over there. Don't worry about mine; it will come when the time is right."

The Princess looked over her shoulder at the Prince, and then back to Fred. Then giving him another quick kiss, she ran back to the Prince.

"Yes! Oh, Yes!" she declared, "That is my answer to you and no other!"

The crowd cheered at the news and Frederick smiled, but his eyes looked very sad. He felt someone lightly take his hand and looking beside him, there he saw Greta smiling at him shyly. He blushed and turned away as he closed his hand around hers making her blush and shyly look away as well.

The celebration was interrupted by the church bells as they began to ring in the noon hour. The room became still and the inhabitance held their breath and waited for the final toll. Jakob fidgeted nervously hoping he had done everything right and hadn't overlooked anything, for if he had he would have little choice but to be trapped with the rest of them at their perpetual party. As the sound of the bells faded in everyone's ears, they all looked to the King. Surprisingly, he felt the urge to say absolutely nothing! The fiddlers didn't play, the servants brought no trays, the stewards poured no wine; the room was filled with silence for the first time in many months and was only punctuated by the twittering of the birds beyond the open drawbridge. The crowd suddenly roared to life, clapping and cheering.

"The spell is broken!" proclaimed the King.

He turned and spoke to Jakob with a broad smile upon his face, "You've broken the spell, freed us all and returned my daughter to me good sir! I must find a way to repay you, but first, let us all retire to the gardens outside and rejoice!"

With cheers and laughter; with Jake receiving many pats on the back, handshakes, hugs and kisses from all the girls, they poured out through the open drawbridge into the warm autumn sun for the first time in what felt like an age.

This time instead of calling for his fiddlers, the King called for his scribe to bring his seal and his treasurer to bring his book. As they all wandered about in the fresh air, Kate turned to Jakob and smiled.

"Just look at them Jakob, they're all free and it's all thanks to you!"

"Well, I wouldn't say it was all me…Oh my!" he began, but was cut off by Kate throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

When she had let go, Jake realized something had been poking him in the left side of his chest. He looked down slightly puzzled and then he thought, 'Oh, of course, where is your head at Jakob!'

"Oh, wait…here. I've something of yours that I know you want back", he said as he pulled the necklace from his inside shirt pocket.

"Oh, where did you find it?" replied Katherine in surprise, "I thought I had lost it somewhere in the woods!"

"Somehow it ended up in my pack", said Jakob slyly, "Right after that little problem with the porridge, I believe, I've been carrying it around ever since. Here, let me…"

Kate turned away and he put the necklace around her neck and tied it well.

"And you've been carrying it next to your heart all this time?"

Jakob nodded, looking at her innocently over the top of his glasses. She reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek that made him blush and smile at her shyly.

"It seems you've done well for yourself", said Will, teasing his older brother knowing full well it would embarrass him in front of Kate, but he couldn't help it. He had always been such an easy target for such things.

When they turned to look at him, Will stood there smiling broadly surrounded by all the lovely young girls that had paid him such attention the first night he ended up stuck at banquet. Jake gave him the requisite disgusted look indicating that for Will, this was nothing new. At that moment a tall brunette in a green gown strode up to him followed by a little, old woman that could be only her lady-in-waiting. Much to Jake and Kate's surprise, the brunette planted a huge kiss right on Will's lips, then with a wink; she took his arm much to the consternation of the group of young girls. The old lady gave a knowing glance that said she had been witness to much more than she really should have between the two of them recently and this time it was Will's turn to blush.

"This is Lady Rosalind, my um, well…my lady", stuttered Will

"Looks like you've done pretty well yourself, Will!" shouted Jake, making the crowd around them laugh and paying back the embarrassment his brother had put on him two fold.

The King called for everyone's attention and read a newly written proclamation.

"I, the King, do so declare that all wants and warrants placed against the brothers Grimm shall be null and void! From this day forward, they will be held in the highest esteem in the kingdom as heroes and I also declare that this day each year shall be forever celebrated in the kingdom as Grimm's Day! Copies of this proclamation shall be sent forth to other kingdoms of the realm so that all may know of this glorious news!"

The Chamberlain looked pained at this news and it only added to his angry irritation that he had been cheated out of a very entertaining execution. The King then bestowed upon the brothers a very healthy sum of gold.

"This will finally get our book printed and then some!" declared Will

"I will refrain for saying 'I told you so'", replied Jake smugly.

"But you almost got yourself killed to get this! What would I have done then, eh?" fussed Will.

"But I didn't, did I?"

"Well you could have!"

"The whole point is, I didn't!"

"Well, my point is, you could've!"

"Oh, stop fussing Will!" chided Jakob, "You sound like an old mother hen!"

As the brothers continued their spat, everyone around them continued to celebrate their freedom from the old witch's spell. Soon the village returned to their daily lives and the castle was returned to order. Jakob had kept the witch's gold and the jeweled hand mirror and no longer having a need for it, he gave it to Frederick and Katherine. They would want for nothing ever again. Frederick had not long to greave over the loss of his beloved Princess for he and Greta had struck up quite a close friendship and soon it was decided that they were to be married in the spring. Wilhelm and Jakob stayed on with Frederick and Katherine for the winter making plans and writing their stories by the fire together.

* * *

**Author's note: **Again, my apologies to everyone for leaving you where I did in the last chapter. That was mean of me, I know, but sometimes it just works out that way. Just as I had to torture poor, sweet Jakob in this chapter just a little bit more. I think the next chapter will somewhat make up for all this, I hope. That being said, I am letting you all know that this is the reason I am posting up the final two chapters together. After all, fairy tales do deserve a happy ending, now don't they? :)


	21. Happily Ever After

Now you see everything turned out all right in the end didn't it? Nothing was lost and everyone found something special that they really hadn't lost in the first place. The Princess found her Prince, Frederick found Greta, the brothers found love and most importantly they found each other! As Jakob said, magic happens all around you every day, you just have to open your eyes and look for it! Now I've one last part to tell you and this part is about how they all lived...

**Happily Ever After**

A light snow fell from the night sky outside the little cottage while a warm firelight danced against the window panes and the sound of tinkling laughter could be heard within. It was Christmas Eve and everyone was gathered around the fire. A pot of hot mulled wine hung near the hearth keeping warm and Will was refilling everyone's cup.

"The roast pig should be done soon", announced Frederick, coming in the back door carrying an armload of firewood, snowflakes swirling around him as he paused to stamp the snow from his boots.

He hung up his coat and settled down with his cup of wine, the smell of cinnamon and clove tickling his cold nose.

"Ummm. Lovely job as always, Jake", he said after taking a long sip.

"Thank you very much!" Jakob replied with an overly fancy bow.

He was well into his second cup and feeling quite over-dramatic at the moment.

"Jakob, what about the tree?" Kate reminded him gently.

"Oh…yes!" he replied.

Kate was just finishing up trying the last of the gingerbread cookies to the branches of the tree with red ribbons. She had made them herself that morning, cutting them into all sorts of shapes and sizes and they smelled wonderful mixed with the smell of the spiced wine. Jake snatched a gingerbread angel from the plate when her back was turned and stuffed it in his mouth as he lit the candles that adorned the tips of the tree's branches.

"Jakob!" she scolded when she looked up and saw what was left of the cookie hanging from his mouth.

"Well, I'm starving girl!" he mumbled around the piece of cookie, "You can't expect me to light all these candles on an empty stomach can…Ouch!!"

He hollered loudly as he burnt his finger and quickly stuck it in his mouth in place of the cookie. Jake glared at everyone as if he was daring them to laugh and the room grew quiet. After a few tense moments they could hold it in no longer and everyone burst out laughing.

"It's not funny, it hurts!" pouted Jakob.

Kate took his hand and inspected the finger and found nothing wrong. She gently kissed the supposed offended finger.

"Better?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh yes, much", replied Jake returning the smile childishly.

Will shot Frederick a nauseated look and whispered to him, "Oh please! If these two get any sweeter together I think I'm going to gag!"

Frederick just giggled, well under his blanket of hot mulled wine. When the tree was finally lit Jake and Kate took a silly bow and Fred and Will applauded wildly.

"Now on to the gifts!" announced Fred.

He began passing around packages wrapped in brown paper and tied with sting. Kate had been busy knitting and had made a scarf for Will and mittens for her brother. Kate received some new stockings from Fred and some handkerchiefs from Will with her initial embroidered on the corner. Will opened a package from Fred and found a nice, new straight razor with some lovely smelling shaving soap and at the same time Jakob found he had gotten a new pen from Will that had a handle made of wood and a good sturdy nib so he wouldn't be tossing ink blots around on his paper with those old quills anymore. Last, but not least Will and Jake got Fred a new pipe and some very good tobacco to put in it.

Jakob pulled two packages from under the bench on which he was sitting and held one out toward Will.

"Best for last", he mumbled shyly and clearing his throat he said, "s'for you."

Will took the package and frowned at his brother wondering what he was up to. Opening the box he found it contained a small hand carved wooden bird painted blue that you might find in a toy shop. When you turned the little crank on the side, the little bird bobbed his head back and forth as it chirped a little tune. Kate and Fred thought it was a wonderful little toy, but Will knew what it meant. It looked like the little bird their mother used to keep before father passed away, a memory of a happier time together. It also served as a reminder of what they had been through that fall and reminded him of a bond that they both thought no longer existed between them, that bond from the happier time.

"Jakob!" began Will loudly.

Jake braced himself assuming his brother had missed the whole point and he was about to be yelled at for buying something so frivolous instead of something more practical. However, Will had understood and smiled broadly at him as he pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thank you", said Will softly turning slightly misty-eyed, "this is the best gift I've ever received."

He turned the little crank, making the bird chirp it merry tune and it made him giggle like a little child. Jakob then handed the other box to Kate. She opened it carefully and to her surprise inside was one of the most delicate chains she had ever seen.

"Jakob, it's lovely!" she said breathlessly.

"It's to hang your necklace on", he explained.

"Oh!" she said as she untied the cord from around her neck. That cord had seen better days and she had been worried about losing the charm that meant so much to her. Jake threaded it on the chain and fastened it around her neck.

She felt the chain with her fingertips and said, "Oh, I love it, but it's too much!"

"Nonsense", said Will, "it looks beautiful on you."

"Oh, thank you!" she said as she hugged Jake around the neck tightly.

Shyly she took a package of her own from under the bench on which she sat and handed it slowly to Jake.

"It's from both of us", put in Frederick barely able to contain his excitement.

Jakob noted the package was quite heavy and he stared at it for a few moments as if he were afraid to open it. 'What has she done?' he wondered.

"Well, go on Jake", prompted Will, "Its not going to open itself you know!"

"Oh…well…no, I suppose not", he replied.

Slowly, he untied the string and upon carefully removing the wrapping, he stared at the object in awe. "Wo…I…", was all he could manage. In his hands he held a fine leather bound book. A picture of two handsome, young men graced the front cover of the book, one on bended knee speaking to a little man all dressed in black. Jakob immediately recognized them as He and Will and the ugly little man from the box with the blue light that turned out to be the handsome Prince. The edges of the book's pages were gilded in gold and gold leaf was embedded all around the picture. What really had stuck him dumb was the title of the book. There below the picture, imbedded in gold leaf was the title in large letters "Grimm's Fairy Tales" and below that in smaller letters "As Told by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm". Slowly he handed the book to his brother. Will's eyes grew wide and he grinned from ear to ear.

"This is absolutely …marvelous!" Will said, sounding a bit giddy, "How…when?"

"Not long after we got back", Katherine replied, "It took a while to do and the bookbinder thought I was crazy having an empty book made, but he didn't fuss so much after we paid him. The gold on it is very real; I gave the metal smith one of the witch's gold coins to melt down. Now you have a place to write down the final versions of your stories and no matter where you go, you will always take a bit of this adventure with you."

"Well, this is wonderful!" said Will as he leaned forward to give her a hug and a quick peck on the cheek, "Thank you so very much, right Jake?"

He handed his brother back the book and Jakob just sat and stared at it letting it all sink in.

"Well Jake?" asked Will, shoving him by the shoulder, making him rock back and forth sideways.

"Well?" asked Fred, becoming a bit concerned.

Jakob still sat staring at the book and biting his lower lip as if he were trying to keep from being upset somehow. Katherine stood up and placed her hands on either side of his face, tipping it up so his eyes met hers.

"Jakob is everything alright?" she asked softly.

A somewhat silly half smile played across his face as he appeared to be trying to hold back tears.

"Oh, it's alright", Jakob said beginning to sound giddy himself, "It's more than alright!"

He suddenly stood up and grabbing Kate around the waist, he swung her in circles around the room making her shriek and giggle loudly. Frederick and Will laughed out loud at the sight.

"It's the most wonderful, fantastic, beautifully marvelous gift ever!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

He gently put her down and looked at her with the biggest, most joyful grin she had ever seen.

"Oh, Kate…" he began, but at that moment this well educated craftsman of words found he suddenly had none.

Something above his head caught his eye and looking up; he realized they were standing directly under the mistletoe. Without missing a beat, he scooped her up in his arms tightly and kissed her deeply.

"There they go again", sighed Will leaning sideways in his chair and resting his chin in the palm of his hand, "Now I'm sure I will definitely be ill before the evenings out."

Frederick chuckled knowing that he wished them nothing but happiness. He then abruptly came to attention as a thought struck him.

"The pig!" he shouted.

"I beg your pardon?" said Jakob sounded very offended.

"No, the pig!" repeated Fred, "it should be done by now. Not too done I hope."

"Oh…oh right!" replied Jake, the statement becoming clear to him.

He and Frederick bolted for the back door, quite forgetting their coats and headed for the oven behind the house. Will helped Kate ready the rest of the table. Soon a rich and wonderful smell filled the house along with a blast of cold air and random snowflakes as Fred and Jake carried in a large platter bearing a small roast pig. The very same pig in fact that the young boy had stolen that resulted in them all meeting on that fateful day. Frederick sang loudly as he carried the platter aloft.

The boar's head in hand bear I,

Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary.

And I pray you, my masters, merry be

Quot estis en convivio!

Caput apre defiro,

Redens laudes Domino!

_(all who are feasting together!_

_I bring the boar's head,_

_sing thanks to the Lord!)_

They sat the platter at the head of the table and together they sang joyfully and dramatically.

The boar's head, as I understand,

is the finest dish in all the land.

And I pray you wherever it be found,

Servite cum in cantio!

Caput apre defiro,

Redens laudes Domino!

_(Serve it while singing!_

_I bring the boar's head,_

_sing thanks to the Lord!)_

Katherine and Will both applauded their silly merriment and they all sat down together joining hands around the table. Frederick said a quick grace for they all had something to be grateful for this year, their friendships, their loves, and their very lives!

"Well then, let's eat!" announced Fred.

He stood up to begin carving the roast pig as the others helped themselves to the other dishes and chattered along merrily.

"More wine!" shouted Jakob, jumping up and heading for the cupboard.

He grabbed a bottle that suited him and pulled the cork. Jakob literally danced around the table as he filled the glasses, dancing a jig and turning circles between each chair; then grabbed a biscuit and stuffed it in his mouth as he went. He danced his way around behind Fred and sticking his thumbs in his ears; he wiggled his fingers and stuck out his tongue at the back of Fred's head. Will and Kate just looked at each other and then burst out laughing!

"What?" asked Fred dumbly as he dropped a piece of pork on Will's plate.

As the night went on there was so much conversation, singing and laughter coming from the little cottage that the next day the townsfolk around there all agreed that it had to be the merriest house in the entire town!

That spring, Frederick and Greta were married and the reception was held under a big tent on the festival field near the edge of town. The bride looked beautiful as she danced with her new husband and the guests held hands and danced in a circle around them. Will and Jakob were standing under a nearby tree enjoying the day and the shade, beer steins in hand. As they watched the dancers; three little men, the tallest being no more than three feet tall, approached them with their hats in their hands.

"Can we help you?" offered Jakob.

"Are you Jakob and Wilhelm, the famous brothers Grimm?" asked the little man with a set of round glasses perched on the end of his nose.

"Why, yes we are", said Will with a smile and a slight bow.

The little men looked at each other and smiled.

"We've come to ask for your help", said the bespectacled little man.

He related a story about a young girl they knew of that was having a bit of trouble with a rather cranky stepmother. According to their explanation, the girl had dark hair and a snow white complexion which gave her a great amount of beauty. She was being stalked by her very jealous stepmother and it seemed she wanted to see her dead! The stepmother dabbled in black magic, which put this well beyond the little men's ability to help, but they had heard of the brothers and were sure they could help. Will was looking a bit put off, but Jake was very intrigued by their story.

"Will, this a great opportunity", began Jake starting to sound rather excited.

"No", said Will abruptly.

"But we can help them!" Jakob was beginning to bubble like a pot about to boil, his hands flying in all directions as he tried to convince his brother, "besides, this will be a great opportunity to add to our story collection!"

Will grabbed onto Jake's forearms in an attempt to calm him down and get him to focus. When Jakob got like this, Will knew it was nearly impossible to get him to listen to reason.

"No, Jake!" he said seriously, "We're writers now, not heroes! Besides, you know Kate would throw a fine fit if she found out you were running off somewhere that might be dangerous."

"But Will…"

"No."

"But, we could…"

"No!"

"Please, Will?"

"No!!"

Jakob looked at Will over the top of his glasses, his big, brown eyes pleading. His lower lip began to stick out in a pout and he looked so sad and forlorn. Will stared back with stern defiance, but he could only take his brother's look for so long.

"Oh very well, we'll do it", Will said, giving in with an exasperated sigh, "but you are going to be the one that tells Kate!"

"Tells Kate what?"

Her voice came from behind Jakob and it made him spin around to face her. He swallowed hard and gave her a weak smile, wishing he were anywhere but there right now. As he stumbled along trying to explain things to her, she crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one foot. By the time he had finished, her head was tipped to one side and her face wore a very stern look. Will took a couple of steps back toward the three little men, unsure if he should protect them or hide behind them to protect himself. Jake paused and waited for what was to come, good or bad and he somehow knew it would probably be the later. After a few very uncomfortable moments that seemed to feel much longer, Kate uncrossed her arms and stepped towards Jakob. He could feel himself break into a sweat.

"Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm!" she said in a stern voice. "If you think you and your brother are going off on some crazy adventure, you're out of your mind!"

"Kate, I…" began Jake, failing badly at trying to get out of the situation.

"Did you think you two could just sneak off just like that?"

"Well, we…" tried Will, failing as well.

"And not take me with you?!"

The brothers were dumbfounded. This was not the reaction they were expecting at all. Then her words sank in and Jakob dove in to squash any thoughts she may have in that particular direction.

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped Jake, pointing his finger at her nose, "This is much too dangerous a thing to have you tagging along!"

"And their off…", muttered Wilhelm.

"What? I'm not tagging along", replied Kate sounding quite snappy herself, "I'm going along to help you!"

"Whoa, like the last time? I don't think so!"

"And just what do you mean by that remark? If you think you're going to go running off around the woods, killing witches and God knows what else, leaving me here for months worrying about you, wondering if you're ever coming back alive, you have another thing coming and I'm going to give it to you!"

Jakob was now nose to nose with her, glaring at her over his glasses, his hands flying in all directions dramatically as he pushed his point.

"I will not have you running about out in the woods, putting yourself in grave danger just so you don't have to worry! You're not going and that's final!"

"Oh, you think so do you?! Well, let me tell you something!..."

As they continued to bicker, Will thought it might be a good idea to put a stop to it, considering people were starting to stare. He tried stepping between them to break it up and raised his hands in a gesture for calm, putting on his best diplomatic grin that oozed with charm.

"I'm sure we can all work this ou…"

Jakob, not stopping his flow of words at Kate looked past his brother and put his hand directly over Will's face in mid sentence. Katherine did the same, but put her hand on Will's shoulder. They both pushed at the same time shoving Will out from between them and sending him stumbling backward into the trunk of the tree.

"I'd say, let her come. That evil stepmother wouldn't stand a chance!" offered one of the little men, making his companions snicker.

"I'd say it's a real toss up as to who the real married couple is here today!" replied the little man with the glasses, which also brought forth amused titters.

The third stepped between his companions and put his hands on their shoulders, then pointed one chubby little finger into the distance.

"Beer!" he said cheerfully.

The three of them looked at each other and nodded appreciatively and headed for the reception tent until things calmed down and left the others to work it out.

Despite all that had happened to them and everything that life was going to throw their way in the future; they managed quite well to live happily ever after.

**The End**

* * *

Thank you all so much for reading my story and I hope you all liked it. As always, reviews are quite welcome. I hope that I kept Jakob and Wilhelm as close to Heath and Matt's creations as I possibly could and did Terry Gilliam's original story justice.

**Author's Note: **I know I fudged a bit on Christmas. In Germany, gifts are generally given on December 5th which is Saint Nicholas Day and Christmas itself is reserved for family celebration, but I felt they deserved a larger, more special celebration considering everything they had gone through that fall and that they had much to be grateful for. The Boar's Head Carol is a real song and is usually sung at universities and institutions of higher learning during the Madrigal Christmas feast, therefore Jakob (being a professor) would know it well. To hear it, cut and paste this: r7adETaOYiQ into the search box on Youtube and click on the link that appears. (a few words are different as there are slightly different versions sung).


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